


Daddy, it's the Monster from under my Bed!

by Drakojana



Category: Video Blogging RPF, jacksepticeye - Fandom, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Adopted Children, Awkward Dates, Awkward Tension, Does scaring a guy off count as horror, Eventual Romance, Fluff, M/M, Movie Night, hell creatures, single parent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-02
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2018-12-23 01:35:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11979345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drakojana/pseuds/Drakojana
Summary: Sometimes Mark gets a bit too worried about his kids. But then they play impossible pranks on him.The imaginary monster being the real thing is just one of them.





	1. An Evening Prank

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AssbuttOfTheReaders](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AssbuttOfTheReaders/gifts).



> So this is thanks to the people from the Possum Pit, especially Em, who dragged me into this hell. It's a fun and cute idea and I love it so much.

Mark was pretty sure he heard some sort of creaking sounds and hushed voices coming from his kids' room as he was ironing the clothes. He hoped the children weren't fooling around past their bedtime again, yet he knew sometimes they couldn't be trusted. Lately, they were getting more and more disobedient, nearly always coming up with some ridiculous excuses for their mischief. The most unbelievable and somehow the most common one was blaming everything on the monster from under their beds.

Sam, Mark's daughter, would claim that it lives under her bed and likes to play with them in the evening and at night. The parent had only himself to blame - he made the whole story up when his kids were afraid to sleep in the total darkness. Back at the orphanage, they'd been told that various monsters lurked in the closets or under the beds, sometimes in the bathroom and that they waited there to eat naughty kids at night.

Mark couldn't exactly get rid of that pointless rumour when he'd adopted Sam and Tim but he could try to influence their thinking. So he'd told his kids that the monster living in their bedroom was harmless and they could befriend him. He even came up with a name for it - Anti. Surprisingly, the kids had quickly accepted that idea and became less and less scared until the fear was completely gone. Well, except that this idea backfired completely and now Mark was stuck with his kids putting blame on an imaginary monster they insisted was real. 

So as soon as he folded Tim's shirts into a nice pile, Mark made his way to the children's room to put them away in the closet. The closer he got to the door, the surer he was Sam and Tim weren't asleep yet despite the fact he'd told them good night over an hour ago. He frowned when he heard a shrill voice that he couldn't quite identify. It was too high-pitched to be Tim's and yet too masculine to be Sam's. But his son tended to get squeaky when he was giggling and judging from the tone of the voice, they must've been rather amused.

Mark, however, was not. He silently opened the door and when the light from the living room's lamp poured into the room, he glanced at his children, who seemed to be asleep. Sam, whose bed was closer to the door, was facing her dad with a relaxed face that indicated she was deep into the land of dreams. That didn't stop Mark from squinting his eyes and inspecting the angelic expression, looking for any sort of a twitch that would give her away. When nothing like that happened for a minute, the parent only sighed and walked over to the closet to put the clothes away.

Once that was done Mark quietly shut the door of the closet, making sure he didn't slam it like usual. Maybe it was just his imagination and his kids were actually asleep. He sighed. Perhaps sometimes he was too strict and overprotective of them. He'd always tuck them earlier to sleep so they wouldn't be tired in the morning but maybe it was time to let them pick their bedtime themselves.

Something decided to take advantage of him getting lost in the thoughts. Suddenly, Mark felt something grab his ankle and yank at it harshly. He squawked in surprise, falling over and landing butt-first on the floor. But just as his eyes focused on his feet, he saw nothing. Both of his ankles were free, no signs of any sort of a wire or rope he could've got tangled in. For a second, he thought he saw something flash under Sam's bed, green and blue dots. Though they disappeared as soon as he noticed them.

"Huh," Mark murmured to himself as he proceeded to get up and then he was sure he heard giggles. He instantly snapped his head upwards to look at the children, and sure enough, the small frames under the covers were shaking with laughter.

"What are you doing awake?" He whispered in a stern voice. "Both of you, go to sleep, now!"

Both Sam and Tim hid under the covers and soon Mark heard overdone and too loud fake snoring noises. He shook his head and smiled to himself. They really were mischevious at times. He did feel a bit ashamed that his children had to witness his quite ungraceful moment, though their good mood indicated they might've had something to do with all of this. Mark made a mental note to himself to question them in the morning.

When he was about to leave, the hand already resting on the doorknob, he was sure he heard some rustling. He furrowed his brows, convinced that the source of the sound was located under his daughter's bed. Checking wouldn't hurt, so he kneeled beside Sam and inspected the suspicious noise. To his surprise, and slight relief, there was nothing there save for a small pillow, two teddy bears and a couple of hair pins. Mark fished it all out and placed on the girl's bedside table. He'd have to talk to Sam about cleaning up after she was done playing, too.

When he took the last toy from under the bed, he heard another sound. This time it was the closet door. He looked to his left and narrowed his eyes. Did he leave it open? He was sure he closed it, yet there it was, slightly ajar. So he got up from his knees and closed the furniture, not paying attention to the fact that the similar green and blue lights were staring at him from the inside.

So Mark walked up to the doorway once more, glancing at their children one last time. Wait, did he hear a giggle again? He sighed heavily. The kids were unbelievable sometimes but he still loved them with all of his heart. But then, he noticed something odd.

There was nothing on Sam's bedside table. Mark didn't see a single thing he was sure he'd put there just a moment ago. He shook his head in resignation. The exhaustion must've been catching up to him, he needed his rest as well. So he closed the door to head to the living room and finish pressing the clothes.

 

* * *

 

"Is Daddy gone?" Tim peeked out from under the covers to look at his sister in the darkness.

"Yup," Sam confirmed in a hushed voice. "Anti, you can come out now."

The door to the closet opened with a low creak and some sort of a shadow slithered out to it to form into a proper figure between the children's beds. Shaped like a lithe man, it had dichromatic, glowing green and blue eyes. It smiled with a sharp-toothed grin as it crouched to ruffle Tim's hair with its clawed fingers.

Sam sat up on her bed, kicking the legs up in the air playfully.

"Daddy looked so surprised when you pulled on his leg!" She giggled, though her laughter was stifled by a hand over her mouth.

"Shh, do you want him to come back and catch you two not sleeping?" Anti smirked.

"Nooo," Tim whined, though he yawned right afterwards. The creature tsked and stood up.

"Well, I think it's time for you both to sleep anyway," he hissed quietly.

"What about you Anti? You never sleep!" Sam joined her brother's complaining. "I want to stay up with you!"

Anti sighed and grabbed the covers on the girl's bed, lifting it a bit so she could get back under it.

"Your father will be upset if you don't get enough sleep."

Sam puffed her cheeks but she laid back down, letting the creature tuck her in. But as Anti got back on his knees, ready to crawl under her bed, she grabbed the hem of his shirt to get his attention.

"What is it?" He cocked his head, mismatched eyes boring into the girl's dark green ones.

"What about a goodnight kiss?"

Anti chuckled as he leaned forward to press his cold lips against Sam's forehead. Afterwards, he did the same to the boy in the next bed.

"Goodnight, you two."

"Goodnight, Anti," they replied in unison, both wearing the biggest smiles on their faces.

The monster got under the bed, where the pillow and two plushie toys were waiting for him. He rested his head on the soft fabric and curled up.

Some day. He will reveal himself to Mark someday. But for now, he was enjoying the little time he could spend with the human's kids. With them, he could feel like at least a tiny fraction of the void in his heart was filled up. They made him feel… complete.

And the whole world should know, he was ready to protect this feeling at all cost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how many chapters I'll write for this but I'm definitely not leaving it just there! Each chapter will be kind of a separate ficlet from this specific verse, so if you have some suggestions you can even drop them in the comments!


	2. A Movie Night

Sometimes Mark would let his kids stay up till late night hours. But those rare occurrences could happen only under his watchful eye. The most common one was their movie nights. Of course, their session would start at 6 P.M., so even if the kids tried to stay awake to watch at least three movies, it would be midnight in the worst (for Mark's over-worrying mind) case.

And that evening was one of their little family events. Mark was sitting comfortably on the couch with a kid right next to him on each side. Sam was hugging her dad's arm, resting her cheek against his tan skin, while Tim sat curled to Mark's side, his legs tucked under him. Of course, no movie night can be called good without some snacks, so the parent had a bowl of chips resting in his lap and mugs filled with hot chocolate for the kids and herbal tea for Mark were slowly cooling down on the table.

Mark would always let the kids pick the movies and this time it seemed he was stuck with a marathon of Disney ones. He didn't mind them, though sometimes he wished he could watch good old horror movies. With the kids in the house, he rarely got the chance nowadays as he didn't want the children to have nightmares. It was the last thing they needed.

Sometimes he still worried whether Sam and Tim felt good and welcome in his life. The girl was fully aware she was adopted as she was older than her brother. The boy not as much, though even he knew what was going on when Mark had argued with his ex-girlfriend and the woman had left him with the kids. Ever since Mark showered the children with love, trying to compensate for two parents. The man didn't complain about the source of his income though he knew he couldn't always afford things for himself for the sake of the kids. That never stopped him from buying Sam and Tim the toys they asked for.

They were in the middle of the second movie when Mark first had the unshakeable feeling of another presence in the room. It felt as if somebody was standing right behind the couch, almost leaning against the soft leather. The kids were too focused on the TV screen to notice, it seemed. So the parent would sometimes take quick glances behind himself to confirm that they were alone in the house. The thought of a stranger ever breaking in terrified him but he'd never let it show. The children knew their dad was strong and fearless, and he intended to keep that stereotype up.

Though when Sam spoke up about him moving his head around, his eyebrow twitched slightly.

"Daddy, stop wriggling," she whined. "Let Anti watch, too!"

There it was. That weird talk about the imaginary monster from their room.

"If he wants to," Mark decided to turn it into a joke and laugh his anxiety off. "Then he should join us on the couch."

Tim made a tiny gasp and the man could swear he felt the cushions dip even more under some extra weight. But no matter how he looked at it, there was nothing there save for him and his kids. But his son was now sitting up straight, his eyes still fixed on the screen.

Mark tried to pay it no mind as he reached for his cup and sipped on the warm tea. It helped him soothe his nerves, though not for long.

At some point, the movie started lagging. He frowned at that, they were playing it straight from the disc he'd rented earlier that week. It shouldn't be malfunctioning at all. But the image stopped from time to time, the frames jumping around. The sound became distorted, too, and when Mark was about to get up from the couch to stop the movie, the voice lines accidentally glitched into a rather unnerving sentence.

_"You're…"_   
_"Going to-"_   
_"-dieee.."_

The dark-haired man frowned, though the heavy gulp of nervousness he took was audible enough for the children to hear. Sam and Tim tried to stifle their giggles as they stared at their dad's face. Mark shook his head, hearing the kids' laughter made him snap out of his shock. He quickly got up and marched over to the DVD player with the intention of changing the movie.

Then he was sure he heard Tim whisper to Sam. He couldn't make out the words he said clearly but he knew that blasted name of the monster was mentioned. And as if on cue, the movie stopped glitching whatsoever, playing like nothing was wrong in the first place. Mark cursed internally and went back to sit with his kids. They were going to be the death of him.

"You two little devils, did you have anything to do with that?" He eyed them with a mock disapproval.

And Sam and Tim replied in unison.

"No! Anti did!"

Mark only sighed with a light smile on his face. They resumed their movie night which continued without any problems from that moment, though the man would sometimes feel something he could only associate with cold breath on the nape of his neck. He promised himself not to be a coward and didn't turn around to check anymore.

Thankfully for Mark, the kids fell asleep sometime during the third movie, right past 11 P.M. Though he had to carry them both back to their beds, he didn't mind. In fact, he felt as happy as he could, holding their small frames close to his chest. They always looked so innocent when they were sleeping.

Once both Sam and Tim were tucked in their beds, Mark carried the empty cups back to the kitchen to wash them. He didn't like leaving any dirty dishes, it always felt better to wake up in a clean house. He whistled to himself, rinsing the mugs with water. But as he was putting them aside to let them dry, he heard a creak of a door among the clatter of the dishes.

"Kids?" Mark peeked out of the kitchen to glance in the direction of Sam's and Tim's room, only to notice the door hanging ajar. He furrowed his brows. He never left the door open.

He wanted to go to the children's room to scold them for not sleeping yet when he saw something that made him freeze in place.

Among the darkness of the living room, he could make out a faint silhouette of a person. Their eyes glowing like two small lights, they were staring right back. At first, Mark couldn't move, his brain short-circuiting at the idea of somebody breaking in. He snapped out of it as fast as he could and jumped towards the light switch.

When the lamp illuminated the room, the figure was gone.

"What the…" He raked his hand through his hair. That was probably just his imagination, though it sent his heart racing, thumping loudly in his ears. He was probably overthinking it again.

Mark told himself the lights were just the TV's little diode indicating the device was on the stand-by mode, though he knew perfectly well that the light was neither blue nor green. His eyes had to be playing tricks on him, there was no other logical explanation.

But just as he turned the light off again, the silhouette was back, this time near the children's room. Mark flicked the switch once more just to confirm he was indeed so tired he was seeing things.

"Sam would probably say it's that Anti again," he muttered to himself and closed the door to the kids' room, soon going to bed himself.

He didn't turn the light in the living room off that night. But when he woke up, no lights were on in the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The more people I talk to about this AU, the better ideas I get. So don't be afraid to leave some suggestions and thoughts in the comments!


	3. A Failed Date

"You need to ruin that date."

"What?" Anti cocked an eyebrow, turning his head to look Sam in the eyes.

The girl was currently playing with the monster's hair, tying it up into ponytails. Each one was made with a different hairband, so his hair was a mix of dark green and neon colours. The shorter strands of hair that were normally falling over his forehead were now held in place with two black hairclips.

"I don't like that person." The girl pouted and held Anti's head with her small hands to make him look straight.

"Your father seems to be happy with them, though."

Tim, who was sitting in Anti's lap all this time and playing on his console, decided to support his sister.

"We've never seen them and Daddy kept saying they didn't want to come over!"

"Maybe they don't have time," the monster ponders. "And if you two don't like them, why do I have to do all your dirty work, hmm?"

"Because" Sam stepped forward to get a good look at the masterpiece that was Anti's hairstyle. "Daddy is kicking us out for the night!"

"He's doing what?" The monster frowned. "Why would he do that?"

"He didn't tell us." Tim shrugged and paused the game. "He said he was going to try to bring his date home and he needed us out."

"Still, I'm not going to interfere. What if your father sees me?"

"You two need to meet eventually!" Sam whined.

"Then at least come with us, Anti! We're going to visit the neighbours!" Tim looked up, his upside-down face beaming at the monster.

"You know I can't… leave," Anti muttered and looked away.

The kids pouted at that but they dropped the subject.

 

* * *

 

The monster was a bit upset when later that day the children had to leave the house.

"Anti, please?" Sam gave him one last look of puppy eyes as she rested her hand on the door handle.

"I said no," the green-haired figure shook his head and gave Tim his goodbye hug. "I won't do anything that would upset your father so much."

"Daddy's probably going to be thankful anyway," the boy quipped as he let the monster go.

"Be off with you two already." Anti chuckled and as if on cue, they all heard Mark call from the living room.

"Kids, it's time to go! Where are you?"

The blonde girl huffed and grabbed her brother by his hand so they could leave the room together.

Once he was alone, Anti sat down with a heavy sigh on one of the children's beds. Feeling soft covers under him was always nice and he knew he could relax, as Mark wasn't going to enter the room anytime soon. Or at least that was what he thought until the monster heard the steps heading towards the door.

His physical form fell apart in an instant, the pale skin turning into ash that got swept into a form of a loose shadow. Anti slid under the bed, hiding away from the human's sight.

"Hm. They actually cleaned up," he heard Mark mutter to himself. The dark-haired man walked around the room, closing some open drawers and hiding notebooks into the desks. "Let's just hope I don't screw this up…"

The monster felt a bit curious about someone else visiting the house he was bound to, though he knew he'd have to be sneaky about it if he was planning to leave the room at all. He couldn't afford being spotted - Anti worried the moment Mark learnt about his existence, he'd move out and take the kids away.

The human left pretty quickly and Anti could go back to resting on the bed, this time hiding under the covers. He hated how sometimes he felt cold, and no amount of clothes or blankets could get rid of it. He needed attention and affection if he wanted to keep his physical form relatively stable. So once Mark left the house, the monster spent a couple of hours just shivering in the bed. He'd never have expected the empty house would become his enemy after so many years he'd spent in it.

 

* * *

 

A sound of the door closing made Anti stir awake from his rest. The green-haired entity kept his shadow form as he slithered up to the door. The lamps in the living room were on, so he couldn't leave just yet, he'd be easily spotted as a black puddle with flashing eyes on the floor.

"So. Nice house, Mark," he heard a voice that somehow could sound like his own, though it wasn't as distorted. It belonged to a human, obviously. "What else did you plan for us?"

"I was thinking about… Uhm, you know. Maybe we can sit down on the couch, watch a movie?"

Mark sounded pretty nervous, and Anti laughed to himself at that. Tim often told him how courageous his father was, though the monster had seen its share of his displays of panic and fear. The dark-haired man's problem was overthinking and worrying too much. Maybe the next time Anti would give him some dating advice. Maybe.

He heard Mark turn the TV on and leave, probably towards the kitchen. If the new guy sat down on the couch, Anti should be safe. He risked sliding under the door, though he needed a hiding spot pretty quickly.

Concealing himself in the shadows behind the couch, the monster took a look at Mark's date. The only detail he managed to get from staring at him from behind was the man's distinctive green hair, its hue fading into cyan on the endings. He huffed, seeing as Mark was already coming back from the other room. Anti hid once again and decided to snoop around and listen to their conversation. Mark wouldn't be angry for eavesdropping, he wasn't going to find out anyway.

The dark-haired man and his date talked for over an hour, sitting next to each other and watching the movie. During that time the monster learnt that the other man's name was Jack and that, well, he seemed to have other plans for the evening. He kept his voice low when he told dirty jokes that made Mark laugh and when he got a happy response, he'd try to get even closer.

Anti didn't know why but hearing and seeing bits of that made him want to growl. He couldn't, as he'd be found out instantly. Something about Jack kept bothering him - as if the man's voice sounded too familiar, or his face was too recognisable. The monster had had hardly any encounters with humans before the house had been built, which was around seventy years earlier. So Anti can't have met the green-haired man.

His suspicion kept growing, though he tried to tell himself it was just a date. Mark deserved to be with anyone he wanted, and Anti had no right to interfere. He'd told the kids he wouldn't, anyway. Though when the children themselves became the conversation topic, he almost snapped.

"Shit, it's getting late," Mark said as he sat straight, ready to get up.

"Relax, we've got the whole night to ourselves." Jack had his hand on the other's knee. His lips were twisted in a sly smile, giving away his thoughts and expectations.

"No, see, I- I didn't tell you something." Mark took a deep breath. "I have to pick up my kids, I promised I'd do it by ten-"

"Wait, wait, wait." Jack interrupted him, his brows furrowing. "You have kids?"

"Uh. Y-yeah?" The dark-haired man rubbed his neck nervously. "I know I should've mentioned this before…"

"Great. Fuckin' great." The green-haired man crossed his arms. "Can't they wait? We still haven't had too much fun, you know?"

"No. I need to go get them."

"Fuck them, honestly!" Jack threw his arms up in the air. "I don't care about some brats, I came here to have a good time."

Then, he pushed Mark down on the couch and kissed him aggressively. If Anti didn't have to keep hiding, he'd have thrown the guy out of the window at this point. Jack had the nerve to insult his beloved children and the monster would never forgive that.

Mark didn't seem to like that attitude, either, as he easily pushed the scrawny guy off him.

"That's enough, Jack. I didn't expect you to be some horny asshole," he spat out and got up.

"And I didn't expect you to be a weak ass idiot who doesn't even know how to have fun!"

The black-haired man looked like he wanted to say something else but all he did was turn around and grab the keys to march outside shortly after. Anti knew he'd gone to the neighbours' to get the kids. The house was so close Jack wouldn't be able to do anything without being caught, anyway.

The green-haired man went to the bathroom, mumbling curses to himself. The monster knew this was his time to make him pay. He quickly sneaked into the room right behind the other.

Jack washed his face, looking like he tried to clear his head.

"What a moron, using kids as an excuse… I knew he'd chicken out."

Anti didn't waste any time. As soon as the green-haired man looked into the mirror, he froze. Because in the reflection he saw a figure stand right behind himself. A pair of glowing, double-coloured eyes was staring back, narrowed into a distrustful expression. Mouth twisted into a scowl showed off two rows of perfectly white, sharp teeth. The dark green hair fell over the forehead and Jack's breathing sped up as he slowly realised the face looked too familiar.

"W-what…" he stuttered out, terrified in seconds.

Anti slowly raised one of his black fingers to his throat, sliding one claw across his neck. At the same time, he carefully started opening his second mouth, making sure it looked like his throat was being sliced with a simple motion. He tilted his head back, revealing even more teeth along with a long tongue. To top it all off, a husky whisper emerged from the back of his throat right through the freshly revealed mouth.

"Get… Lost…"

Jack turned around immediately, holding onto the sink. His breaths were short and quick, his heart pounding heavily. His eyes scanned the room, looking for the horrifying figure from the mirror.

Anti was smarter, though. He was expecting that so he disappeared from the other's sight just to hide behind him again. Annoyed that the green-haired man wasn't leaving yet, he decided to shatter the mirror and blew cold air on his neck.

That did it for Jack as he ran out of the bathroom, shrieking like a little girl. On his way, he bumped into Mark, who'd already come back with the kids. Anti only heard the terrified man scream at confused Mark.

"You sick fuck! I-I don't want to see you ever again!"

The monster took advantage of the confusion and slipped back into the kids' room. Sam and Tim walked in shortly after, both tackling him in a big group hug.

"You did it, Anti!" The girl beamed, certainly happy with the date's outcome.

"I guess I did, huh?" The monster smiled back. He couldn't resist it, not when two children were giving him their happiest expressions. "He turned out not to be so good after all."

"See, we told you so!" Tim said, wrapping his arms around Anti's neck. The other took the hint and picked him up.

"But, uh… Can you tell your father I'm sorry for the mirror?"

"What?" The children asked in unison.

And as if on cue, they heard a yell.

"Sam! Tim! Which one of you did it?!"

The monster put the boy down and only shrugged before he turned back into a shadow and hid under Sam's bed. Then the room's door flew open to reveal an unhappy Mark.

"Who broke the mirror in the bathroom?"

He regretted the question the second he asked, Anti was sure of it. Because the kids gave him the most expected answer. They pointed at the bed and shouted.

"Anti!"

The monster almost laughed as he heard the exasperated groan. Mark couldn't stay angry with his kids. The three of them were happy together again, and Anti could almost feel their happiness. Almost. Because the void in his heart still begged to be filled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any ideas, don't be afraid to drop them in the comments!   
> The way this is going, Mark and Anti may finally meet in the next chapter :D


	4. A Strange Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally time for them to meet! :P

Mark should’ve known it was a mistake to let his kids use his phone. They weren’t allowed to own one so sometimes they would ask their dad if they could play with his own device. Most of the time he’d supervise them, make sure they didn’t download any strange apps. But this one time he’d let them take the phone to their room while he stayed in the kitchen, preparing food for dinner.

He was in the middle of cooking vegetables when he heard a panicked scream. Although the raven-haired man wasn’t sure which kid’s voice that was, his parental instincts kicked in and he rushed into the room.

“What happened?” He asked breathlessly as he burst through the door.

He was met with a rather peculiar sight. His phone was on the floor, the screen black and lightly cracked. Tim was sitting right next to it, hands covering his eyes – the face was red as a tomato and Mark quickly deduced his son was silently crying. Sam was standing beside her bed, pure confusion all over her face. The shining green eyes filled with fear when her gaze landed on her father.

“What did you two do?” Mark furrowed his brows, approaching Tim and gently patting his back. He knew his voice was laced with annoyance as he had a growing suspicion about the situation.

The boy rubbed his eyes with one hand and stretched out his free arm towards the parent, letting the raven-haired man pick him up.

“Daddy’s not angry, just tell me what happened,” Mark muttered, holding Tim close as he sat down on his daughter’s bed.

Sam still had the panicked expression, shuffling her feet awkwardly.

“Your… your phone…” She whispered, voice full of shame. The girl carefully picked the device up and handed it to Mark, hanging her head low.

Her dad took it in his hand and eyed it suspiciously. A cracked screen wasn’t too big of a problem. He was about to say that as he pressed the button to wake the phone up but it refused to work. The raven-haired man narrowed his eyes, pressing harder, yet it changed nothing. Tapping on the screen had no effect either.

“We’re… sorry, Daddy.” Sam’s voice was small, afraid of her parent’s reaction.

Mark sighed heavily, putting the broken device aside.

“What did you do?”

The girl refused to look up and meet his stern gaze but she glanced at her brother. The raven-haired man hoped they weren’t planning on getting away with this, he had some important data saved on the phone. After a moment of silence, Sam spoke up again.

“It was Anti…”

Mark really didn’t want to get angry. But hearing the same ridiculous excuse over and over again was getting annoying. He gritted his teeth, slowly losing control over his voice.

“Don’t lie to me,” he seethed out. “I will accept the truth, no matter how bad it is but don’t try blaming it on the imaginary monster again.”

“B-but Daddy, it’s… it’s the truth!” Tim spoke up through his sobs.

The raven-haired man carefully pushed his son off his lap, standing up. Both of his children stared at him with wide eyes, waiting for his reaction.

“How many times must I tell you?” His fists balled up, nails digging into the palms. “I hate it when you lie and you know that “Anti” isn’t real! You’ll either start taking the responsibility for the trouble you cause, or I will have no choice but to get mad.”

Mark had never yelled at the kids. He despised such forms of discipline, along with violence. But he couldn’t go easy on them either, he had to draw the line somewhere. So he snatched the phone and marched out of the room with one more thing on his lips.

“You’re grounded until you learn your lesson and tell me the truth.”

Although he knew he was doing for their own sake, he couldn’t help but feel his heart ache as he shut the door to the children’s room.

 

* * *

 

“This is unfair!” Sam stomped, her face presenting an ugly pout. The frustration was only piling up on the inside and she could feel the hot tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. "It's really not our fault!"

"I know, I know…" The green-haired monster was sitting on Tim's bed, gently caressing the boy's hair. The child was still hiccuping from the sobs, though he tried to stop it. He wasn't very successful, so Anti would sometimes wipe the tears from his cheeks.

"Why won't Daddy just believe us?! He's the one who told us about you and now he's saying you're not real!" The girl's voice was getting louder and louder with each word, so the creature carefully gestured at her to keep it down.

"I-if anyone's a liar, it's Daddy!" Tim burst out, supporting his sister.

"Now, now. Your father may be wrong but I think he's justified," Anti hummed. Sam shot him a distrustful glare.

"How can he be? We don't deserve to be grounded over something we didn't do!"

The green-haired creature sighed as he rose to his feet. The boy had been comforted for long enough, so he approached Sam and held her close.

"Sometimes it's easier to turn your eyes away from the truth and deny the obvious. Humans tend to overlook things that don't fit their worldview just so they can maintain the 'normality'."

"I don't understand." The girl clutched the hem of the monster's shirt, tugging on it lightly. "So it's easier for Daddy to yell at us rather than believe what we say?"

Anti looked down at her with a light smile.

"Trust me, it's not. He wants to trust you because he loves you dearly. But some choices seem better even if they hurt. He's sad, not angry. He wishes it would make sense but there's something missing in the puzzle."

The girl finally raised her head to look at the monster, the traces of the previous scowl gone. When their gazes met, her face suddenly lit up.

"It's you!" Sam exclaimed, pushing herself away.

Anti felt slightly confused as she pointed an accusatory finger in his direction.

"What do you mean?"

"Daddy doesn't know you were here when the phone broke!"

Even Tim looked at her sister in bewilderment. Neither he nor the creature could understand what she was thinking.

"This is it! You two have to finally meet so you can properly apologise to him!"

"Wait, Sam," Anti grimaced. "You don't… I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"You've been avoiding it for so long, why?" The girl crossed her arms. "All you have to do is to let Daddy see you!"

"What if he doesn't…" the monster lowered his head, the question dying in his throat.

He had his reasons for avoiding the confrontation. Mark had a fairly common sense. Meeting a non-human creature that looked so hideous could result in him leaving the house forever. Leaving Anti alone for decades once more. And the monster didn't want that.

"Don't worry, Anti!" Sam put her hands on his shoulders, or as far up as she managed to. When the creature set his eyes on her again, she gave him a big grin. "I've got a plan."

"Oh?" Anti's eyes lit up with curiosity, though there was still some doubt in them.

 

* * *

 

Neither Sam nor Tim spoke up during the dinner. Mark was a bit unnerved by the silence and the lack of words between them only added to his guilt. But at the same time, he wouldn't retract his choice - the phone was still not working despite the best of his efforts.

He spent the rest of the day on his computer, trying to look up any possible solutions to the problem. He cursed internally whenever he came across the most plausible answer - the device was beyond saving and he seemed to have no choice but to buy a new one.

Mark felt annoyed with the unexpected expenses he'd have to add to the budget. A part of him hoped his kids wouldn't ask for anything expensive in the nearest future.

With a sigh, he shut down his laptop and one glance at the clock told him just how much time he'd wasted. It was past the bedtime already but knowing the children, they wouldn't be asleep just yet.

The raven-haired man gently knocked on the door to their room to announce his arrival. After entering it, he was surprised with the unusual sight. Both Tim and Sam were in their respective beds, sitting in pyjamas.

"Daddy! We've been waiting for you," said the girl with a bright smile. Mark raised an eyebrow, it was a bit suspicious considering the fact she'd been so angry before.

"It's time to go to sleep, so of course I'd come to say goodnight."

"Come here!" Sam patted the space on the bed next to her. She seemed quite eager, too.

The parent smiled lightly, glad that the kids weren't holding a grudge against him for the punishment. He walked over to his daughter and sat down, ruffling her hair.

"You know I love you so much," he spoke, the guilt in his heart still gnawing at him. "I really wish I didn't have to ground you."

"We're really sorry for what happened, Daddy." Sam wrapped her arms around her father's chest and pressed her head close. "And Anti is too."

Mark grumbled involuntarily at the mentioned name but he decided to let it slide. His daughter's hold tightened as she continued.

"That's why we convinced him to apologise in person!"

The raven-haired man furrowed his brows. He wasn't sure what exactly it was supposed to mean. That still didn't sound like the children learning their lesson.

"Really? Then where is he?" Mark asked with a huff.

Tim giggled at that as he got off the bed and sprinted towards the light switch to turn it off.

"Okay, Anti! You can come out now!" He squeaked happily and climbed up to sit back on the pillows.

The parent didn't know what to expect, honestly. They sat down in the dark, though some light was seeping from under the door so Mark could see the kids grinning wildly. He felt Sam let him go but his daughter stayed on her bed. For about two minutes nothing happened until he heard a slight creaking sound. The raven-haired man tried not to think about the fact that the source of the noise seemed to be located under the bed. He shifted on the mattress, waiting for something to happen.

One thing he'd certainly not expected was a black hand to emerge from under the bed and sink its claws in the covers, slowly pulling the rest of its body out. Mark froze in place, watching the second arm as it reached a bit further on the bed, the slender fingers closing around his ankle. He glanced at Sam, who still kept smiling. He was slowly becoming terrified as he felt a light tug on his leg. Whatever was hiding under the bed, was pretty much _real_.

When a pair of glowing eyes appeared in the darkness, Mark felt it was time to end this madness as he jumped out of the bed with a loud scream. He scrambled towards the light switch, hitting it with his palm. The room lit up and the raven-haired man turned around, internally praying it was all just an illusion, his mind playing tricks on him.

He was met with a completely different sight, however. A tall figure of a man stood in the middle of the room, dark green hair on top of his head. Pointed ears stuck out from under the curls and a pair of mischevious eyes stared back at Mark. One of them green with a blue ring around the iris, the other an opposite with blue being the main colour. The stranger's lips were curved in a cheeky smile that showed off his sharp teeth and there was a second mouth right in the middle of his neck, looking like a cut with fangs inside. His skin was pale with black spots covering his arms that eventually faded into full colour over his hands.

The raven-haired man screamed once more, pressing his back against the wall as sweat broke on his forehead.

"W-who! Who the hell are you?!"

The… thing laughed lightly when Mark's children got off their beds and he was horrified as he watched Sam give the creature a high-five. Tim wasn't any better, happy with the turns of events as he hugged the stranger's side.

"Daddy, meet Anti!" The girl exclaimed, turning to face her father. She was grinning, pride practically beaming off of her.

Mark's breathing turned faster when his brain slowly put everything together.

There was a stranger in their house. That stranger was in his children's room. And said stranger had somehow earned the kids' trust.

And Mark had no idea about it.

The raven-haired man jumped forward, grabbing Sam's and Tim's arms and pulling his children away from the creature.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my house?!" He screamed, hiding the kids behind his back. He wouldn't leave them defenseless anymore, he had already seemed to have failed as a father. "Answer me right now!"

"D-daddy, that's… That's Anti. You don't have to yell at him…" The girl was clearly confused about the whole situation, speaking up quietly just to be hushed by Mark.

The thing, "Anti", lowered his head and the smile on his face died out. He sighed heavily and took one step forward, though as the raven-haired man tensed up, he seemed to sense he couldn't close the distance between them anymore.

"It's as Sam says. I'm the "monster" that lives in your children's room, Anti. It's a pleasure to meet you face to face finally, Mark," he spoke as politely as possible.

But the raven-haired man wouldn't be fooled.

"D-don't give me that crap! How did you break in and how long have you been here?!" The sheer thought of a stranger gaining his kids' trust like that repulsed Mark and made him feel disgusted with himself. How could he have allowed this?

"I've been here since the day you moved in, even earlier. I could actually say it's you who are in my house." Anti narrowed his eyes, constantly shifting his gaze between Mark and the children.

The raven-haired man reached behind himself to hide the kids from the monster's stare.

"You're a liar and a burglar. I'm calling the police!" Mark yelled, completely forgetting about the fact that he actually had no way to call anybody with the broken phone. Still, he pushed the children out of the room as he looked for the device.

But as soon as he was out in the living room, he saw Anti already waiting there. He cried out in surprise just to get angry a moment later.

"Don't you dare move! I don't want you near my kids ever again!"

The creature sighed and the next thing Mark saw made him almost faint.

Anti's body started turning transparent, at the same time its hue going black until he looked like a shadow. Like some sort of a liquid, his form fell to the floor and slithered among the panels towards the human until he materialised back again right in front of him.

"I'm not lying. And I promise I haven't broken into this house." He was so close Mark felt his cold breath hit his face. "I'm truly sorry about the phone. The children were telling the truth, I accidentally broke it when I touched it."

The raven-haired man felt he couldn't move again. His fear was paralysing him in place and he hated it. So he gritted his teeth and spat out.

"How can I believe you? For all I know you could've hurt my kids and I will not forgive you if you did."

Anti took a step back and Mark could swear he saw him shiver like he was cold.

"I… I'd never…" The monster stuttered. "I love them too much to hurt them. Please, believe me."

"Y-you what?" The raven-haired man couldn't believe his own ears.

The kids ran into the room in that moment, Sam tackling her father and hugging him with tears in her eyes.

"Daddy, no! Please, don't be angry with Anti!"

Tim's face was red from the tears already when Mark turned his head to look at his son. The sight was truly heartbreaking and he wasn't sure what to think anymore.

"What… What's going on right now?" He murmured, his head suddenly feeling light.

"We… we thought it would be funny but we didn't mean for it to go this way!" The girl kept pleading. "Please don't kick Anti out, he's a good monster! He's nice!"

The raven-haired man looked at the creature in front of him once more, his eyes full of bewilderment. It was a lot to take in. Perhaps even too much.

When Anti gave him a grin that was probably meant to be an encouraging smile, he closed his eyes and fainted.


	5. An Uncanny Promise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you read this chapter, I just wanted to give a shoutout to [Gamz](http://archiveofourown.org/users/AdorabloodthirstyKitty/pseuds/AdorabloodthirstyKitty), who wrote [**this amazing fic for my birthday. Go check it out if you haven't yet!**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12363081)

Well… They were in quite some trouble. When Mark suddenly lost consciousness, the kids could barely hold his limp body up. Thankfully he didn't hit his head as he landed on the floor. Still, Sam and Tim were panicking and Anti was mildly concerned.

"We… can't leave him like this," the creature said as he took a step towards the unconscious man.

"Do you think Daddy's okay?" The girl looked at him with big eyes. "I… We just wanted you two to meet…"

When Anti noticed that Tim's eyes were already brimming with tears, he hugged both children.

"It's alright. Maybe it was a tiny bit too overwhelming for him. But I'm sure he'll be fine tomorrow!" The monster picked them up and the kids cuddled up to him. "Let's get you both to beds."

They didn't protest as he carried them to their room, though once they were tucked in, Tim caught Anti by his finger.

"Anti… please look after Daddy."

The green-haired creature gave the boy a warm smile in response and nodded. He walked out of the room once the children were asleep - they passed out pretty quickly, considering the fact they were a bit stressed.

Anti sighed as he dragged Mark's unconscious body to the couch. He doubted he'd be able to carry him back to his bed and the creature had never been in the man's bedroom. He felt like it would be a breach of privacy, and the raven-haired man could think it was all a dream. In a way, Anti didn't want that to happen. If Mark was to acknowledge his existence, he had to notice things were off and he didn't imagine it all.

The green-haired creature shuddered a bit. It wasn't cold in the room and yet he felt his body temperature drop again. Was it because the children weren't happy or because everyone was asleep already?

Mark looked so soft… and warm… And there seemed to be enough space on the couch for two people. Anti gulped as he carefully sat down right next to the human. Mark would surely not mind, right? The creature slowly laid right next to the raven-haired man, wrapping his cold arms around the other's body. Mark was as warm as he'd expected. Anti smiled as he cuddled up closer. Just for a bit, he promised himself.

 

* * *

 

Mark had absolutely the weirdest dream in his entire life. Sometimes he'd have nightmares and sure, some of them were bizarre but they would often make sense, taking advantage of his deep fears. That dream, however, wasn't scary at all. In fact, hardly anything happened in it, besides the fact that the man was hugging… an ice block. A big cube made out of frozen water pressed right against his body. And he was surprisingly okay with that.

So when he woke up on the couch in the living room, he rubbed his eyes and yawned loudly. Something was definitely off, as he was still in his clothes from yesterday.

"What the hell happened?" He muttered as he got up. He can't have gotten drunk, he can't drink alcohol. The raven-haired man then noticed the hushed voices and quiet giggles from the kitchen. The kids had to be up already, it seemed. And so he made his way to the next room to greet the children.

As Mark walked into the kitchen, he was met with… something. Sure, Sam and Tim were obediently sitting at the table, eating sandwiches for breakfast but they weren't what concerned the parent. It was rather the figure that stood next to the fridge, humming happily to themselves.

"Hi, Daddy!" The girl chirped enthusiastically. She jumped off the chair to give her father a hug. "Did you sleep well?"

The raven-haired man's eyes were still fixed on the other adult in the room. He kept noticing more and more strange details about them, like the green dyed hair, or black arms with claws. When they turned around and grinned with two mouths, he had to support himself on the kitchen counter.

Sam unwrapped her arms from around him and looked at her dad with concern. "Is everything okay, Daddy? You remember Anti, don't you?"

_Oh, right._

Anti. That was a thing in their house now. Mark groaned as he pulled out another chair to sit down and hid his face in his hands. Everything came back to him, all of the events of the previous evening - the broken phone, the suspicious apology and the terrifying meeting.

When the raven-haired man heard a soft thud he peeked from behind the fingers. There was a steaming cup of coffee in front of him.

"One teaspoon of sugar? I think I got it right."

The… monster… stood still right next to Mark, still wearing that unnerving smile on his face. Thankfully the neck mouth was closed this time.

"… Yeah." The man picked the cup up and took a sip. Surprisingly, it was good. Didn't taste of any bitter poison or slimy goop like you'd expect from a non-human creature.

The kids giggled at his lack of enthusiasm.

"Daddy's always so grumpy without his morning coffee!" Tim would always squeak when he was happy.

"I'm not…" Mark muttered, staring at his own reflection in the darkness of the drink. "I'm just thinking how I need a new phone now because someone broke it." As he said the second part of the sentence, he glanced at Anti. The monster's ears twitched and went down a bit. So he really did seem to feel guilty, which put the man's heart at ease.

"I'm really sorry, I'd fix it if I could…"

"Never mind," Mark sighed and just drank his coffee. When the kids finished their breakfast, he told them to hurry. It was their time to leave. He thought about walking them to school so he could visit a store afterwards.

As they were all dressing up, Anti approached him once more. He was fiddling with his fingers with a clearly nervous expression.

"Are you mad at me?" He tone of his voice was so genuine that Mark couldn't even help but feel some pity for the creature.

"No," the raven-haired man replied. "As long as you promise not to hurt my children, I guess we can get along."

It was his turn to give Anti an encouraging smile. The monster grinned back. Mark flinched a bit when he saw the pointy teeth in the middle of his neck. That definitely was something he'd have to get used to.

"I won't. They are the first thing that made me feel so happy in… decades."

The raven-haired man froze at that statement. He was in the middle of putting on the coat, so the clothing was hanging loosely from his shoulders. They stared at each other for some time until the kids giggled and hugged the green-haired creature.

"We love you, Anti!"

He chuckled in response and Tim tugged on Mark's sleeve to pull him into the group hug. "We love you too, Daddy!"

It was a bit awkward and suddenly Anti and the raven-haired man avoided eye contact, though they both wore stupid smiles on their faces. When they decided to speak up, the same sentence left their mouths in unison.

"We love you too."

The creature cleared his throat, trying to clear up the weird tension and Mark quickly put his shoes on and almost pushed the children out through the front door. It was enough of weird moments for both of them because when the parent turned around to close the door, Anti was already gone.

Sam was skipping on the pavement, singing some childish song and Tim kept holding onto Mark's hand on their way. The boy had always been a bit shyer than his sister but it was understandable, he was three years younger.

When they reached the school's gates, the raven-haired man knelt down and gave each of the kids a kiss on the forehead. "Have fun and don't cause too much trouble, okay?"

The children nodded. Sam immediately spotted one of her friends so she ran off but Tim stayed behind. Before he turned around, he wrapped his arms around his father's neck and whispered, "Daddy, please be friends with Anti…"

"I will. I promise." Mark returned the hug and gently rubbed the boy's back before releasing him. He sighed with a smile as he watched his son walk away. He was definitely a man of his word. It may all seem so bizarre but if his children wanted it, Mark would even befriend a fire demon to make them happy.

Which… wasn't the case, he honestly hoped.


	6. A Jealous Heart

The next few days were… awkward, to say the least. Despite being perfectly aware of the new presence in the house - or as new as it could be for Mark - the man was still getting startled every single morning. Whenever he walked into the kitchen just to see the supernatural creature sit by the table along with his children, he couldn't help but freeze in place for five seconds.

But it wasn't like he wasn't getting along with Anti. After making the promise the raven-haired man tried his best to befriend the green-haired monster. Of course, the path to actual friendship was long and they had to start from something as simple as gaining trust towards each other.

While Anti had no reason to doubt Mark's ability as a parent, the father of the kids had a bit of a hard time to believe in the creature's intentions at first. He had never met anything so obviously… supernatural. It was insane just to think about it. The gaping second mouth on the neck, the black arms, and glowing eyes… Not to mention the whole ability to turn into a shadow. Of course, the raven-haired man decided to keep most of those thoughts to himself. As long as Anti would behave, Mark couldn't really suspect him of ill intentions.

That still didn't stop the parent from being careful around the monster. Especially when he and his kids were having fun together. He never said that Anti's presence might ruin something but Mark just couldn't relax knowing that… creature was out there.

So when another movie night came around, the raven-haired man didn't even think about inviting Anti. He was so used to him sitting between his kids and enjoying a couple of animated movies together that it didn't cross his mind that another entity might join them that time.

Mark prepared two cups of hot chocolate and a tea, as usual, set a bowl full of marshmallows and another one filled with crisps on the table and turned the TV on. Then, he simply called out to his children as he messed around with the player's settings. So of course when he turned around and saw _three_ figures, his heart did a minor backflip.

Sam and Tim were standing on each side of the monster, holding his hands firmly with bright smiles on their faces.

"Anti's going to join us tonight!"

The raven-haired man had to quite literally tell himself not to sigh. _Keep it together, Fischbach._

"Sure," he replied, although the word got stretched out on his tongue. Thankfully the kids didn't notice his scepticism. Anti was polite enough to know his place and his ears only twitched a bit. "So what do you want to watch first?"

"Inside Out!" The children threw their arms in the air and the creature standing between them grinned.

Mark nodded. "Then Inside Out it is." He picked the right disc from the pile and put it in the player while the kids practically jumped on the sofa. When the parent turned around, he noticed that Tim instantly went for his drink while Sam stuffed her face with marshmallows. It was one of the sights that made him smile like a fool, they were too adorable to resist.

And then the raven-haired man's gaze shifted to Anti. The monster was standing awkwardly behind the couch, not even leaning against it. His hands were barely hovering over the back of it. Maybe he was just worried he'd rip the leather with his claws. Mark decided to ignore the issue, it wasn't like there was any more space on the sofa for him. And Anti seemed pretty complacent with his current position.

The parent crossed his arms when he approached the table and couldn't find a particular device. "Kids, where's the remote?"

Obviously, he got mischevious giggles in return. The green-eyed girl was sitting on her hands and Mark pretended not to know the location of the remote, just raising an eyebrow at her laughter. After a minute or two of staring competition, Anti leant in and poked Sam in the side, resulting in her returning the device.

The raven-haired man wasn't sure how he felt about all those affectionate gestures of the monster. Although he didn't want to, for the sake of his promise, think about it, he kept wondering how much time would have to pass before Anti accidentally hurt his children with those claws. They looked sharp as a cat's, and yet Mark had never seen the creature leave even a tiny scratch on things he was given to hold.

The parent decided not to dawdle over it any further. He pressed the play button after making sure the volume was alright and got comfortable between his kids. Tim almost immediately hugged his arm and Mark smiled a little. He absolutely loved how clingy the boy was, it was adorable to feel those tiny arms squeeze his with all the strength that small body had. The raven-haired man kissed his son's forehead but when Tim giggled Sam gave them a sign that was enough by slapping her father's knee. Mark snorted and focused on the screen.

About twenty minutes into the movie the raven-haired man felt the couch behind him move under some weight. Of course, he didn't have to look to know it was the monster. For some reason, Anti decided to stand right behind the parent and it was already unsettling without any additional shuffling. Mark didn't comment on it, although his shoulders got a bit tense. 

Unfortunately for him, it was only getting worse. Anti kept leaning closer and closer towards him and the parent was getting unsettled once he could feel the monster's breathing. He looked up at the other, ready to tell him to stand up straight, and instantly froze in place.

Somehow it managed to slip his mind that Anti had two mouths. So nobody could blame the raven-haired man for yelping when he noticed that the gentle blowing on his hair was coming from the gaping mouth right in the middle of the creature's neck. Anti got so focused on the movie that he was almost laying down on the couch, head stretched out as far as his body allowed him without losing balance. That would explain the claws that sunk deep into the leather under the monster's weight.

The kids gave Mark funny looks and he immediately returned his own gaze to the screen without a word before Anti could look down at him and notice his staring. But now that he was perfectly aware of the fact that the other was right above him, he couldn't help but make himself smaller to feel at least a bit comfortable with the situation.

However, halfway through the second movie, he was forced out of the tiny comfort zone anyway.

"Daddy?" Tim shifted his gaze to stare at Mark. "Why won't Anti sit with us?"

The raven-haired man cleared his throat, glancing at the couch. It was obvious what the boy was asking for, there was no space for a fourth person.

"Well, even if one of you sits in my lap I don't think that'll be enough for him," the parent said and looked up. He met the monster's curious and slightly pleading gaze and scrunched his eyebrows.

He wasn't lying. Their sofa wasn't too big, two adults could barely fit together. At least the children were small enough not to take up too much space, so they could all relax.

Tim huffed and didn't care about his father's arguments. The boy climbed into Mark's lap, hugging the raven-haired man's chest now. The parent wanted to make a comment about his neck hurting later with the way Tim turned his head to still be facing the TV. Before he could speak up, though, he noticed Sam jumping off the couch. The girl walked around the sofa and grabbed Anti's arm.

"Come on, let's all sit on the sofa!"

The monster got a bit puzzled and although he stopped hovering over Mark's head, he stood in place.

"But how? I can't fit in there with you," he spoke with confusion and a bit of sadness in his voice.

Sam grumbled and whined, only pulling on Anti's arm until the creature gave in and let her guide him. Once they were in front of Mark, the girl pushed her father's legs.

"Daddy, move! Make some space for Anti!"

The raven-haired man chuckled at her efforts but did as told. He scooted over to the spot that Tim had been occupying earlier and right after that, the couch dipped under the monster. Anti sat down gingerly and not even a second passed when Sam hopped on his lap.

"Yay! Now we all can watch!" Tim squealed and the happy sound made everyone smile.

Mark could barely hold his discomfort. He was now touching shoulders with the creature, though nobody else paid attention to that. The kids and Anti were watching the movie, occasionally laughing at the funnier scenes. Meanwhile, the raven-haired man kept eyeing his daughter, sitting so comfortably in the monster's lap. At least Anti kept his hands on his sides, though at some point Sam reached for one of them and pulled it towards her chest so she could hug it like a plushie. The girl had always liked holding something while watching the movies, but it was a black clawed hand, for heaven's sake. How could that be nice?

The parent's gaze soon shifted towards Anti's face. The creature rested his chin on top of Sam's head and so his neck was so close to the girl's nape. The slightly open mouth was mere inches away from Mark's daughter's skin and the sharp teeth on the inside would have no problem piercing through the delicate-

"Daddy, stop squeezing me."

The raven-haired man snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Tim's voice. The boy was staring at him with those huge brown eyes, a bit confused. Mark mumbled a quick apology and released his son from his hold.

He couldn't stop thinking about Anti's credibility. His children had so much fun with the monster and liked him but they were just kids. They would trust a stranger on the street for free candy.

The rest of the night passed quickly, and Mark kept his intrusive glares sent towards the creature to the minimum. When Sam and Tim got to the point when they couldn't say a sentence without yawning, the raven-haired man decided it was time for them to go to bed.

"Well, wasn't that fun!" He exclaimed as he turned the TV off.

"But Daddy, it was fifteen more minutes to the ending!" The girl pouted, kicking her legs in the air.

"You can barely keep your eyes open, sweetheart," Mark smiled and got up, making sure to hold Tim properly in his arms. "Come on, it's time for bed." He didn't have to check the watch to know it was almost midnight.

Sam crossed her arms, not budging from Anti's lap. The creature was smiling lazily, amused by her stubbornness.

"If you don't go, then I'll just carry you there," he said.

Mark narrowed his eyes in suspicion at that suggestion. Sure, he could be fine with Anti spending time with his children but there were certain things the parent wouldn't let anybody else do. The kids were _his_ , nobody else's.

The raven-haired man was conflicted what to do. He should put Tim as soon as possible in bed and instantly return for Sam. But then again he didn't want to take his eyes off his daughter. Before he could make any choice, Anti was already on his feet, keeping one arm under the girl and the other on her back, as she had her arms wrapped around his neck.

It just looked wrong to Mark. He loved holding his children so much that the thought of someone else doing it made his heart sting with jealousy.

Wait.

Was he really getting _jealous_? The raven-haired man shook his head. It was ridiculous. He was better than that.

Without a word Mark and Anti went to the children's room, putting each one of them into their respective beds. The parent gave both of his kids a kiss and wished a good night. But as he was about to leave, he realised one thing.

Anti was still in the room. Mark was perfectly aware of the fact that the monster was usually hiding somewhere in the closet or under the beds. But after spending some time with him and trying so hard to change his mind about the creature's presence in the house, the raven-haired man felt that wasn't fair towards him.

"… Where are you going to sleep?" He asked.

"I don't, actually," Anti replied with a shrug. "I'll just spend the night under Sam's bed."

"You don't have to. I mean, there's the couch…"

"I think I'll pass. I get cold pretty easily and it's warm in here…" The monster smiled sheepishly. "Thank you for the offer, though."

Mark bit his bottom lip. What he was about to say could sound wrong but it just seemed sad that the creature had to hide all the time.

"I could share the bed with you."

They both froze in silence. Mark, because he couldn't believe that he actually suggested that. And Anti, because he was too shocked by the proposal.

"I-If you don't mind, of course!" The raven-haired man quickly added when he felt the air get tense. "My bed is big enough for two people, so don't worry about the space!"

"I…" The creature lowered his gaze, unable to keep the eye contact. "If I can… Sure."

Mark might have had some ulterior motives when he had thought it up, focused on dragging Anti away from his children. But when they were already in his bed, their backs facing one another, it was the last thing on his mind.

After all, the monster was nice. It respected everything the raven-haired man said and never did anything wrong to make him angry. Well, if you don't count the phone accident, that is. Even after all of that, Anti promised to stay away from all electronic devices in the house, claiming his touch caused some electromagnetic interference.

So in the end, Mark fell asleep with a smile. He could live with that. And somehow, when he had another dream of hugging something cold, his smile got wider.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for no Anti POV this time, but maybe the next chapter will be told entirely through the monster's eyes :)


	7. A Secret Feeling

The next day prepared such an eventful morning for Mark. First, he woke up to something cold pressed against his body. Again, for heavens could only know what time, his initial thought was that it had to be an ice cube.

For the past two weeks, he'd let Anti sleep with him. The raven-haired man decided that the monster deserved some recognition as a resident of their house and sleeping in a closet or under beds just seemed too miserable to keep happening. Despite the green-haired creature's protests, Mark didn't want him to complain. Funny how quickly he got over any prejudices whatsoever, ready to protest when Anti whined about being a nuisance. Not that he actually did, and that was another surprise. The monster appeared to be very delighted by the idea of sharing the bed with Mark.

And so the father of two opened his eyes, mouth involuntarily opening in a wide yawn. He blinked a couple of times and upon feeling something embracing him, only returned the gesture, tightening his own hold. He received a soft hum in response, though his own nerves quickly told him that whatever he was hugging currently, was pretty much alive and still cold. Mark's vision finally focused on a mop of green hair right in front of his face.

So that was the thing he'd been holding on to for the past few nights. Just a supernatural creature that had befriended his children, broke his phone and scared the living hell out of him at least thrice. Mark cleared his throat and relaxed his arms, hoping that Anti would pull himself together and realise what sort of an inappropriate situation they were in.

The monster seemed quite stubborn that morning. He only murmured an illegible response and nuzzled into the crook of Mark's neck. So the raven-haired man had no choice but to push him away. Except that it wasn't that easy, either. Anti's thin arms had more strength in them than Mark would've expected, embracing him tightly enough. On top of that, when the raven-haired man put his hands against the creature's shoulders and shoved lightly, Anti's claws only dug into his back, clearly not wanting to let go.

Mark wasn't in the mood for a struggle first thing in the morning, so he guessed they could rest like that for a while longer. He still didn't have Anti figured out, so he couldn't judge the monster for wanting physical comfort. The green-haired creature had hinted before that he was trapped in the house, with no way to step outside even for a second.

Mark's and Anti's peaceful moment was interrupted by loud thumping footsteps soon, however. The kids were pretty much up and running, with one goal in mind. For once they got up earlier than their father, so the raven-haired man knew exactly where they were going. Mark made an undignified sound as he watched the doorknob move under the pressure of tiny children hands.

"Anti, it would be a good moment to get up…" the raven-haired man laughed nervously as the green locks tickled his neck once more.

It was inevitable - Sam and Tim burst into the bedroom, both happily screaming, "Good morning, Daddy!" Their good mood's source was without a doubt the fact that it wasn't Mark waking them up, but the other way around.

The brown-haired boy didn't waste any time as he ran up to his father's bed and crawled on top of the covers to bounce with glee. The raven-haired man pondered just what exactly got both of his kids so energetic first thing in the morning. At least the incessant noises and moving got Anti stirring awake. The monster lifted his head from Mark's chest and opened his mouth - thankfully only the one on his face - in a prolonged yawn.

"Good morning, you lively kiddos." He grinned and almost laid his head back on Mark's shoulder. The raven-haired man saw it coming and gently stopped the creature midway through. It was already enough of cuddling for once day. Especially since Anti's arms were still pretty much wrapped around Mark's torso.

"Anti!" Sam squeaked. "So that's where you've been hiding for the past few nights!"

Tim stopped his jumping, looking at the monster with a bit of dismay. But once all of the gears moved in his mind, the boy decided to fall right into his dad's arms. Well, Mark had about half a second to realise that was what his son wanted to do, so he barely caught Tim and saved himself from being hit with an elbow.

"Hi, Daddy. Hi, Anti!" The brown-haired boy grinned. Mark chuckled in response.

"Hi, you rascal."

The green-haired creature finally released the parent from his hold to ruffle Tim's hair.

"So…" Sam leant against the bed, putting her arms against her pink cheeks. "Are you going to date Daddy now, Anti?"

Surprisingly, that question was enough to make both Mark and Anti jump out of the bed. Of course, the raven-haired man made sure to keep holding Tim so the boy wouldn't fall.

"W-w-what are you talking about?!" The monster's voice cracked in a strange way, adding an echo to the sound and switching the pitch mid-sentence. "I just… Ma… Mark was kind enough to share the bed with me…"

The raven-haired man put his son down and smiled. The green-haired creature's was so flustered it was a bit endearing. "Yeah, that's all. I couldn't let Anti spend the nights under your bed, Sam. You can't just keep him there forever, you know?"

"He never seemed to mind!" The girl puffed her cheeks. "And that's how it always begins. You share the bed and then you date before you know it!"

"What in the world is that supposed to mean?" Mark's mood quickly changed from the tiny moment of panic to amusement caused by his daughter's hilarious logic. "Come on, you two. To the bathroom, I can tell you haven't even washed your eyes yet."

Tim stopped rubbing his left eye and giggled as he saw his dad giving him a look.

Mark sighed with a smile, almost forgetting that even though the children left the bedroom, he wasn't alone just yet.

"Ah, I'll… I'll go prepare breakfast, then." The raven-haired man put on his slippers. "Do you want something, Anti?"

The creature only shook his head, a peculiar green blush on his cheeks. As Mark walked out, leaving Anti alone, the green-haired monster smiled sheepishly to no one in particular.

* * *

Anti thought he'd be safe with his small secret. The faint smiles he'd send Mark when the human couldn't see, the a-bit-too-long-to-be-socially-acceptable hugs the monster needed, sometimes even something that could be considered an invasion of privacy as he seized each opportunity to get as close to the raven-haired man as possible after the other had fallen asleep. They were all risky actions and he knew he was gambling but he could never get rid of his mischievous nature fully. It was woven into his soul to take each chance, not think about the consequences and bet everything on luck. Anti had already run out of it once and although what he had to lose was nothing compared to what he'd lost in the past, he was scared. Because he hadn't known what emotions were back then.

Days passed and Mark stayed oblivious to Anti's strange behaviour. The green-haired creature supposed that since the man was still getting used to him, Mark blamed it all on Anti's personality. And to be perfectly honest, he had each and every right to. No humans should ever get this close to monsters like Anti, and so they had no idea what his kind was like.

It was true that the children accepted Anti as he was, without questioning it. But their father often put an emphasis on their age being the key factor. They didn't have anything to worry about. They didn't know that neck mouths were something out of a horror story. They didn't know that glowing eyes weren't a real thing among humans. They had no clue that turning into a shadow was something _physically impossible_ for any living being.

The creature defied any human logic. And Mark had to live with it, unable to find an explanation. So he was excused for not putting much thought into the fact that Anti would stare at him for a longer than necessary. Or that he truly was touch-starved from _him_ , unable to be satisfied with just blankets, even the warm ones fresh out of the dryer.

But the green-haired creature couldn't stay safe from two sets of little prying eyes - one green, one blue.  Without any inhibitions, they had to approach him some day. And that day happened to be when Mark was out of the house, doing groceries.

"You've got a crush on Daddy, Anti." Not even a question. Sam crossed her arms, standing in front of the monster who was watching the girl's brother play with two toy cars.

The creature felt his cheeks turn a darker colour and he didn't dare to meet Sam's eyes, still pretending he was fully focused on the boy's imaginary race in the air.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Tim made some whirring sounds as a bright red car with black stripes flew in front of Anti's face.

"When Daddy was taking the chicken out of the oven yesterday, you totally ignored me!"

"It was _distracting_ ," the monster blurted out without thinking. His blush only deepened. He shouldn't have said that.

"What was so distracting?" Sam whined. "I don't understand why adults like to look at each other exactly when they can't see their faces!"

"Y…you'll understand when you're older," Anti sighed. _It wasn't his fault Mark decided to lean down instead of crouching and gave him a very nice view of his ass_.

"Adults always use that excuse!" The girl stomped offendedly. "I am older _now_!"

"When you're much older, Sam," The monster rolled his eyes. He needed to change the subject, fast. But one thing he'd learnt about human children for sure was that they were stubborn little creatures.

"I'm old enough to understand why you're staring at our Daddy so much! You like him!"

"I mean, that's what you asked me to," Anti was nearly grasping at straws. He didn't know why but he was scared of admitting to his feelings. "To get along with him."

Two cars crashed in front of his face and Tim's noises crescendoed as he was spitting from all the wooshing he was doing. At least only one kid was pestering the green-haired entity.

"Anti's getting along with Daddy!" The boy grinned when his and Anti's eyes met. He dropped the toys and wrapped his arms around the monster, causing Anti to smile.

"But you _like_ like him!" Sam wasn't letting this one go.

"Like like? Like what?" The creature thought that maybe playing dumb would help. Unfortunately, that only earned him a soft karate chop on top of his head.

"You two like each other, I know it! Daddy's happier every morning now that you two are sleeping together!"

"We're not-" Anti was about to protest but he realised that the girl couldn't mean that in the way he understood. She was definitely too young to know the second meaning of the phrase she used.

"Daddy and Anti sleep together!" Tim repeated like a parrot again. "You should tell Daddy that you like him, Anti!"

And there it was, the second child joined the discourse. The monster couldn't catch a break with those two.

"I don't understand what's the big deal," Anti pouted.

"Daddy doesn't know how you feel!" Sam cupped the creature's cheeks in her small hands. "It's just like when you had to meet him! We'll help you!"

Anti knew his entire face had to be green now. He couldn't feel more embarrassed than he wanted. And it was yet another emotion he didn't remember ever experiencing before.

Maybe he really had to do it. Some hazy memories resurfaced as he thought about saying those three words to Mark. As if the key to his prison lied among them.

"I…" He gazed at the floor. Tim was looking up at him with concern, and Sam stood in front of him with an encouraging smile on her face.

He had two supportive kids on his side. What the hell did he have to lose? He'd lost his freedom a long time ago, and he couldn't lose any more of it. If anything, he could gain from it. He couldn't be afraid of stupid confessions.

"…Okay. I admit I do like your father a lot…" Anti mumbled at first. He didn't have to look at Sam to know she wore a triumphant expression.

"See? It's not that hard to say! You just need to repeat it to his face!"

"… It's not that easy. I… What if he doesn't like me as much?"

"He does!" Tim said, squeezing Anti's chest. "I know it!"

The monster finally looked them in the eyes and managed to smile. There were so many different feelings clashing and mixing in his chest, and although it was supposed to be a foreign sensation to him, he gladly welcomed it. Perhaps it all would have a happy ending for him for once.

Anti reached out to get Sam to come closer as he embraced both children.

"I think you and Daddy would be perfect together…" the girl muttered quietly.

He had to do it. For them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the idea I had for this chapter got changed in the meantime. I didn't even realise it's been four months since the last update! The summer semester hit me hard with the work so I've fallen behind with all the writing. I hope I'll get through some of the projects and get more time to write!  
> The story is going to end soon... I guess you have to be patient and wait to see how it unfolds :D


	8. A True Confession

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy... what an awesome ride this has been! Please do enjoy the final chapter, it's the longest one yet!
> 
> And there may be a little surprise waiting at the end... ;)

Mark noticed Anti's strange behaviour some time ago but decided not to comment on it. The green-haired creature seemed to be quite interested in him and perhaps the parent of two should find that flattering. He'd smile at the monster often whenever their gazes met and laugh when Anti's cheeks would turn a slight shade of emerald.

Despite the whole neck mouth, dichromatic eyes and tar black hands thing going, the entity had his charm. Mark didn't know whether the word _adorable_ was suitable in that case but Anti sure was… somewhat endearing. Especially whenever he'd play with the kids.

Just like a certain afternoon when the raven-haired man had to meet up with some people from work, and he asked Anti to cook the dinner. The monster had assured him that preparing food shouldn't be a challenge for him, and the children confirmed, claiming they'd help. So Mark left them alone at home while he attended the meeting. Thankfully it didn't last too long because what was waiting for him once he came back could be called nothing short of a disaster. Well, not the type of a disaster Mark feared but still a mess.

The parent barely managed to leave his coat on a hanger and change the shoes for slippers when he got hit in the face with batter as he set his foot in the living room.

Tim was jumping on the couch, both hands covered in pancake mix; Sam was squealing as she was running with a bowl in her hand, splashing the yellow half-liquid substance left and right; and Anti was obviously fully participating in that game, chasing the blonde girl with a grin.

No one even noticed that Mark was back until he took a few steps forward to stand in Sam's way, causing both the girl and the green-haired monster to crash into him. Anti didn't manage to halt so he slammed into the raven-haired man full-force and they all fell over, confusion written all over their faces. Tim was the only one still enjoying the show as much as before, laughing gleefully.

"What is going on here?"

Anti tried to get up as fast as possible to let the girl go, as Sam ended up being squished between two adult bodies. She was still laughing as she rolled out of the human sandwich they'd made, not caring that the bowl with the batter was upside-down with all of its contents spilling on the floor.

"We're… having fun?" The monster laughed, still not quite up. "Who would've thought making pancakes is so enjoyable."

"I assume it was the kids' idea?" Mark sat up and wiped the mix from his face. Although he didn't have any napkins or towels near him, he had to wipe his hand on the already dirty shirt.

"Wasn't hard to guess, huh?" The green-haired entity was still in a good mood.

"Nope," the raven-haired man smiled. Although he felt sticky with all the food on himself, he was glad when the other gave him a hand.

"Even covered in batter, you look cute." Anti grinned, helping Mark get up. The raven-haired man felt his cheeks turn pink from the compliment. Did the monster really think that?

Anti seemed to catch up on that quickly and once Mark was standing on his own, he laughed nervously, the shrill giggle switching in pitch out of anxiety. His face turned the unusual shade of green once more as he took the bowl Sam had dropped and hurried to the kitchen.

The raven-haired man had to shake his head to snap out of the little trance. At some point, Tim had stopped bouncing on the cushions and now both kids were staring at their dad, awaiting some sort of a reaction. Mark cleared his throat and took Sam's hand, deciding that the best way to handle the situation was to switch the subject.

"Come on, you two, to the bathroom.  You're supposed to eat the pancakes, not make batter wars."

As Mark helped the children wash their faces and left them in their room to change clothes, he tried to stop thinking about what Anti had said.

_You look cute._

"Well, so do you," something whispered at the back of his head and he smiled, blushing lightly.

* * *

"I shouldn't have done that," the green-haired monster kept mumbling as he sat on the floor, hands clutching the sides of his head. "Why did I say it out loud?!"

"Anti, that's exactly what you had to do!" Sam was lying in her bed, head hanging over the edge as she tried to poke the creature, although her arms couldn't reach that far. "Didn't you see how happy Daddy was?"

"Surely you don't think it's because some ugly monster called him cute?" Anti groaned, tugging on his hair. "That was awkward!"

"How else are you going to tell him" The girl kicked her pillow. "When you like someone, you tell them compliments!"

"Daddy was smiling! He liked it!" Tim added, supporting his sister.

"What is he thinking of me now?" Anti was still lost in his own mind. "He must think I'm foolish!"

"Anti!" Sam whined. "Daddy likes you a lot, he just didn't know how to respond!"

"Because that's how shameless that was!" The creature curled up more, hiding his face. "I can't go to him now…"

A soft thud indicated that one of the children left their bed and marched over to the monster. Anti felt a pair of fragile arms wrap around him in a gentle hug.

"I bet Daddy's waiting, thinking where you've gone to," Sam said with a smile. "You can't hide forever, Anti! I just know that you can do it."

Another, this time louder sound, told the monster that the second small body would soon snuggle up to him.

"Daddy won't sleep without you!" Tim said. "Just like I won't sleep without Barry!"

Anti looked at the square brown plushie the boy was holding in front of his face. It was Tim's favourite toy and it was true that the child refused to fall asleep without Big Box Barry by his side (surprisingly, the name was Mark's idea). The green-haired creature had found out about it a year before when he'd tried to sleep with it instead. Tim wouldn't have let him take Barry away.

"Do you really think so?" Anti smiled, some of his panic easing.

"Yes!" Tim jumped in place. He yawned as soon as he landed, though.

"Absolutely! Now go to Daddy, he wants to sleep!" Sam grabbed Anti's arm and tugged on it, prompting him to get up. The creature knew exactly that the kids wanted him out also because they wanted to sleep. It was rare to see them so tired but the food fight from earlier had to get some of the energy out of them.

Anti sighed, knowing he had no chance of winning there. He got up and, still lead by Sam, went to the door.

"Are you sure you don't want me under your bed tonight?" He grinned when the girl grabbed the handle and the door opened with a creak.

"I am sure the only bed I want to see you near is Daddy's bed!" She didn't stop pushing until both of Anti's feet were outside of the room. The door closed and the monster was out in the corridor. He took a shaky breath and turned his gaze to Mark's room, noticing the faint light illuminating the underside of the door. So the raven-haired man wasn't asleep yet, it seemed.

Anti didn't feel confident enough so instead of taking a step forward, he switched into the form of a shadow and slithered over the floor to the bedroom. Once he entered the room, he rose back up to the semi-human shape and stood awkwardly with a worried expression.

"Oh, Anti!" Mark quickly noticed him because of the glowing eyes. "I was wondering whether you decided to sleep in the kids' room tonight."

The raven-haired man put away the book he'd been reading. Anti raised an eyebrow  - he didn't remember Mark reading any books before sleep whenever they'd slept together. In fact, the parent didn't like staying up in bed at all, falling asleep almost instantly every night.

The green-haired entity pondered. Could the kids be right? That seemed to just think about, and yet…

"No, I… I'd like to keep sleeping here. If I can…" Anti said quietly.

"Of course you can!" Mark laughed lightly. "I'm more than happy to share the bed!"

The monster's ears perked up at that sentence. "Really?" The corners of his mouth raised.

The raven-haired man patted the spot right next to him. "Come here, don't just stand there!" His face may have turned a deeper shade of red but it was hard to tell with the poor lighting anyway.

Anti rushed to the bed and got under the covers in a record time. He didn't even get to slip his second foot in when Mark was already hugging him.

"There's something I guess I should've told you before," his voice got lower and softer, although he was still smiling.

The creature returned the embrace, resting his head against the other's chest. "What is it?"

"I don't know about the standards of monsters from under the beds, or inside of the closets…" The volume of his voice was low, he had to be falling asleep as he conveyed the message. "But I think you're pretty cute too."

Anti's eyes went wide as he heard the words. Mark's hold got a bit tighter, though his mind soon slipped away and his body relaxed. The green-haired creature listened to his steady breath, to the slow and calm heartbeat. He couldn't sleep like humans did, so he only snuggled up as close as he could to Mark with the widest smile he'd ever worn.

* * *

The night passed in silence and peace. Anti could feel his mind calm down as he listened to the rhythm of Mark's heartbeat. Its silent melody lulled the monster and his thoughts went silent. The warmth of the human's body settled a pleasant sense of safety in the green-haired entity's soul. He wished he could stay in this spot forever; by Mark's side, surrounded with his heat.

Sun slowly poured into the room through the blinds and once the bright rays touched Mark's face, the raven-haired man frowned and muttered, showing that he didn't feel like waking up just yet.

Anti squeezed him, pressing his face into the crook of Mark's neck. He smiled, feeling the natural smell of his crush. It never failed to soothe his nerves and made the monster want to stay in the bed for the entire day.

"Hey…" Mark finally spoke as he opened his eyes. Anti felt one of his arms leave the creature's back so the raven-haired man could cover his face, shielding from the sunrays.

"Did you sleep well?" Anti murmured, his lips curling into a smile against the other's skin.

"Sure did." Mark chuckled. "How about you?"

"I…" The creature hesitated. "I don't sleep, actually."

"Oh." The raven-haired man went silent for a moment, pondering about the monster's words. "I've always assumed you did since you're curled up against me the entire night."

The green-haired entity whimpered quietly, feeling a blush creep up onto his face. Once the other pointed out his clingyness like that, it did sound weird.

"Hey, I don't mind." Mark sensed Anti's nervousness. He rubbed the creature's back. "It's nice to have someone else in bed. Doesn't feel as lonely…"

"I could say the same," Anti whispered. "You're so kind, and gentle… I can't help myself."

"Admit it's my natural charm," Mark joked and they both snickered. Over the time Anti got used to the raven-haired man's strangely egotistical sense of humour. Of course, Mark wasn't as full of himself as he'd say, it was all a part of the joke. The kids had started it all, claiming that their dad had to be the manliest, strongest and fearless Daddy in the entire universe. And Mark loved to play along.

As they heard a thud and muffled voices from another room, the raven-haired man stretched his arms with a yawn.

"Alright, that's my cue to get up," he said with a lazy smile on his face. "As much as I'd love to stay here with you, I want to at least see my kids before they run off to school."

"Of course," Anti unglued himself from the man and got out of the bed as well. He thought about staying under the covers, enveloped by the pleasant heat, but wasn't sure what Mark would think.

"You know, I think you're warmer than before." The raven-haired man put a hand on Anti's cheek. His eyes hinted concern.

"I… Yeah, I got much warmer lately." The green-haired monster nodded, his cheeks burning from the other's kind touch.

"Are you getting sick?" Mark cocked his head. "I hope it's not a fever."

"Oh, no, no!" Anti got flustered. He didn't expect those sorts of assumptions. "I'm happy that I'm not cold anymore! It… It wasn't nice, I couldn't warm myself up at all…"

"Wait, so you've been too cold the entire time?" The raven-haired man probably didn't think about his actions as he cupped both of Anti's cheeks. "I'm so sorry, I assumed that was your natural body temperature."

"It's fine now," The creature tried to hide his nervousness although his second mouth was curled up in a sheepish smile. "I get cold when I miss attention or…"

"Or…?" Mark wasn't letting go, now fully worried about the other's well-being,

Anti shuddered and he felt that he was close to panic. He wasn't ready to tell the raven-haired man just yet. So he acted on impulse and embraced Mark, holding him close as he hid his face from the other's sight.

"Never mind. I-I'm not cold anymore! And it's… It's all thanks to you. To your family. I'm very grateful for everything…"

"It's okay, no problem," Mark was surprised by the green-haired monster's reaction and he patted his back to comfort him. "If you ever get too cold again, you can tell me. I'm here to help."

Anti bit his bottom lip as he slowly calmed down so he could let the other go. "I'm sorry, I'm not going to hold you back anymore."

"I told you, there's nothing wrong with wanting a bit of love," Mark smiled and ruffled Anti's hair. Before he could see the horrible green blush take over the creature's entire face, he left the room.

* * *

Mark was in the middle of cooking when he felt a pair of arms sneak up around his chest. He couldn't even say anything before a cool body pressed against his.

"Maybe Sam was right and you really want to date me," the raven-haired man laughed. He turned his head around to take a look at Anti but only could catch a glimpse of his green hair.

The monster replied with a strange guttural sound and didn't dare to show his face. At this point, Mark knew he had to be blushing in his bizarre way.

"Listen, Anti, is everything alright? You're awfully clingy lately," the raven-haired man turned around and asked.

"Yes, yes. It's as good as ever," the creature mumbled. "You're warm. And it makes me feel warm, too…"

Mark raised an eyebrow. He didn't feel too hot, in fact, he was pretty sure Anti had the same body temperature as him. "Are you sure you're not sick?"

"I can't get sick, Mark…" The green-haired monster mumbled, nuzzling the front of the human's shirt. Mark only sighed and caressed Anti's hair gently.

"Whatever you say…" The raven-haired man felt a bit concerned. "Can I continue preparing the dinner, though?"

"Is my hug… disturbing you?" Anti gulped nervously.

"No, no. I'm just gonna move around the kitchen a bit and that may get uncomfortable for you."

"I'll try not bother you too much… If I can stay here."

Mark chuckled as he stirred the contents of a pot. "Why not? One time I cooked dinner with Tim sitting on my shoulders, I think I can handle one cute monster cuddling me from behind."

Another noise that could be interpreted as a dying whale's call left Anti's throat. He went silent after a while, though and Mark continued cooking. He kept smiling, feeling the warmth of the other's body. Surprisingly, the creature stayed out of the way pretty well, sensing whenever the human wanted to walk up to the fridge or move to the counter. He didn't let Mark go even once, however, only synchronised his movement with the man.

They were content in their quiet moment, happy with each other's presence. At some point, Anti decided to break the silence, though.

"I… I could tell you why I used to be so cold…"

"It's got something to do with people giving you their attention, right?" Mark hummed in response.

"Well… Not exactly. I mean, it's a part of the reason." The monster sounded uneasy.

"It could be interesting to know."

"See, I… I used to be… Different," Anti struggled to begin his story. "I looked different, and acted differently…"

"Given that you're a shapeshifter, I guess you could." Mark turned off the stove once he decided the potatoes were ready. "And everyone changes over time. I used to act differently, too."

"No, Mark. I… I was bad. Cruel. Evil. I did unspeakable things, and… And I was punished for it." The creature's voice dropped in volume. "I hurt so many people for my own enjoyment, for some sick game. And someone I now think was being very generous to me back then stepped in and stopped me. They took away everything I had, banished me from my home and trapped me on this land."

Mark put away the spatula he'd been holding and turned around. The dinner could wait, that sounded more important. "Took everything you had?"

Anti finally showed his face, and his eyes looked… scared. He was afraid of sharing the story, worried about Mark's opinion.

"I had so much power… And I never used it to help people. I wanted to be worshipped, to only take whatever I wanted… I was selfish. I deserved that punishment, Mark. Even if it meant I could disappear forever."

"I still don't understand, what happened next?"

"See, this piece of land… It's where I last walked on in this world while I was the horrible monstrosity people worshipped out of fear. My… 'friend' stripped me of everything I had back then and made me watch as everyone turned away from me, left this place. It became isolated, and I grew weaker with no one around. Decades passed and I became nothing but a mere shadow. I was ready to be erased from existence… But then people came here. New people, who didn't remember me. They built houses without even sparing a glance at the pathetic shadow that watched them with no feeling."

"Why? Shouldn't you have stood out?" At some point Mark grabbed one of Anti's hands and held it between his own, rubbing a thumb over the other's palm.

"No. I was almost invisible, and they had no interest in me. Even as they constructed this building, no one saw me. Before, my prison was an open land. But at the moment the house was completed, it got limited to those walls. I didn't know whether I wanted anyone to see me or not. Most tenants didn't notice my presence, anyway. At least, until _you_ came here."

"I… I didn't know about you, either," Mark said quietly. "I don't deserve any credit here…"

"Oh, but you do, Mark." Anti smiled lightly, even though his voice was laced with sadness. "You gave Sam and Tim the story about a monster in their room. And at that moment I… I took a shape. I got a name. For the first time in so many years, I had something tangible to myself. Someone finally thought about me, and I was saved from disappearing."

"Wait, I couldn't have guessed that Anti was your real name, though!"

"You didn't have to. I remembered neither my name nor my appearance. But that was not important. I was the essence of an entity, and I absorbed anything you gave me. I became the monster living in your house. And… you gave me a purpose. I became Sam's and Tim's friend."

Mark inhaled sharply. That was a lot to take in out of a sudden. "I… I still don't think I did that much…"

"Over the time I learned so much. The children and you showed me so many emotions one can experience… Sadness, happiness, jealousy, forgiveness… And with each one of them, I felt something coming back to me. I grew stronger, became more real. Until I could finally take a physical form and reclaim my existence."

"I… I see…" The raven-haired man had to sit down, and Anti let him. "So… This coldness… Was lack of feelings?"

"In a way, yes. Y-you could say it was some specific emotions." The green-haired creature turned his head away, clearly hiding another blush.

"I won't pry if you don't want me to, don't worry." Mark laughed out of nervousness. He wasn't sure how to handle that story. "I… Thank you for telling me. I'm glad you wanted to share it with me."

"And thank you for hearing me out." Anti returned just as an equally awkward smile.

They stared at each other for a while longer, neither of them speaking. The green-haired monster wasn't holding Mark anymore but then he stepped a bit closer and started leaning down. The human felt a strange pull, something inside of him wanting to get up, to meet Anti halfway through…

The front door slammed and they heard two sets of tiny feet run into the house.

"We're back!" A girlish voice screamed, followed by the same response from a younger one that belonged to a boy.

Anti and Mark snapped out of it and the raven-haired man cleared his throat, getting up and going back to setting the table for dinner. The creature stepped out of the way and left the kitchen, deciding that the best choice was to greet the children.

Sam and Tim hugged Anti, so happy they got to see their friend. As the monster told them to go wash their hands, Mark stole glances towards him. Eventually, he got caught, and they shared a smile.

* * *

Mark wasn't sure why the kids were whispering and giggling so much during dinner. It could only mean that the little rascals were up to something and the question was, whether it was a good or a bad thing. Anti would often say he didn't have to eat but the raven-haired man insisted on the monster at least eating some of the potatoes. Mark started cooking more ever since he befriended Anti, subconsciously counting him as another mouth to feed.

The green-haired creature was thankful for all the kindness he received from the human and Mark smiled as he saw Anti chew on the food.

"Is it good?" The raven-haired man asked.

"As good as any food in this world can get for me," Anti replied and swallowed. "I appreciate it. I just… I guess I'll never know how it feels to get hungry for normal stuff."

"Normal stuff? What did you use to eat, then?" Mark cocked an eyebrow. In response, the monster nibbled on his bottom lip.

"Ah… Well… M-maybe it's not a good idea to talk about it right now."

"Why not?" Sam joined, lifting her gaze from her plate, where she was busy with smashing the potatoes into a pulp. "I want to try your food, Anti!"

"It's really not a good idea…" The creature chuckled anxiously. "Trust me, you don't want to try it."

"It can't be that bad!" The girl whined, her fork not moving anymore.

"Sam, you can't even eat liver. I think I know what Anti may mean here and I agree you wouldn't want it," Mark cut in and pointed at his daughter's half-finished plate. "Now, eat your veggies."

The girl eventually dropped the subject and the raven-haired man noticed Anti relax. The monster mouthed a silent thanks. They continued eating the dinner but just as Mark was about to get up and gather the dirty dishes, his son spoke up.

"Daddy? Are you going out somewhere tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?" Mark wondered. "No, I don't think so. I'll be working in my office."

"Can't you go out?" It was obvious the kids had a plan and they needed their dad out of the picture. The raven-haired man chuckled at that.

"Why should I? Unless I need to buy something I don't think I have to."

"What about a walk? Or, or buying ice cream!" Sam said.

"Then you're saying I should go out for a walk, and on my way back buy some ice cream?" Mark gave his kids a crooked smile.

"Yes!" They replied in unison, wide grins on their faces.

The raven-haired man shook his head in disbelief and when he glanced at Anti, the creature only shrugged, clearly just as equally confused by the children as him.

* * *

The next day as Mark came back with a shopping bag full of ice cream and other things he'd remembered he should buy, the raven-haired man was met with complete silence. The house seemed empty; not a single sound could be heard and all the lights were off.

"Kids?" He called out but no one answered except for a faint creak of a door. Mark took off his shoes and once he stepped into the living room, everything became clear.

A table with two chairs was set in the middle. A single light up candle faintly illuminated the white tablecloth, and a set of two plates with messy mac-n-cheese was waiting for someone to eat it.

Out of the darness on the opposite side of the room, two glowing eyes stared at Mark.

"What did those two troublemakers do?" The raven-haired man laughed, watching Anti emerge from the shadows.

"They… They set it up for us," The monster said, forcing a nervous smile.

Mark went to the kitchen to put the ice cream away and came back to the table, where Anti was waiting.

"So I guess it's a date, huh?"

"I-it doesn't have to be, if y-you don't want!" Anti was clearly anxious with the entire situation, so the raven-haired man put a hand over the creature's shoulder to comfort him.

"It's okay. They went through all the trouble, so let's have some fun." Mark was hoping his encouraging smile would work. And it did, as Anti decided to take a seat with the man.

"I can't believe they managed to cook something without my help," the raven-haired man said once he tried the food. "And it doesn't even taste that bad."

"I have to admit, I tried worse things." Anti nodded in agreement.

They laughed, and enjoyed the meal. Mark couldn't stop staring at the candle, though.

"Okay, but which one of them got the matches without my permission?"

"What?" The monster cocked his head.

"Who lit the candle? I told them not to play with fire."

"Oh, that would be me," Anti grinned. "They asked me to do it but I had no idea what they needed it for."

"Anti!" Mark frowned. "You shouldn't let them just have a lit candle! What if they burnt themselves?"

"I'm sorry…" The creature apologised, his ears moving down in embarassement. "I didn't think about that…"

"It's… it's okay. I'm sure you wouldn't let them get hurt," the raven-haired man said. "You're a good friend."

"T…thank you."

Once they finished they food, they continued chatting. It was surprisingly easy to talk about everyday life with Anti, the creature got engaged in any topic Mark suggested. Before they knew it, two hours passed and the candle wax dripped onto the cloth. Neither of them noticed, however, staring into each other's eyes with fondness.

"I, I guess we should clean up," Mark said and got up, looking at the empty plates.

"Oh, yeah," Anti left his chair as well. As he asked the next question, he blushed lightly. "But… C-can I tell you something?"

The raven-haired man looked at the monster and walked around the table to get closer. "Sure." He smiled.

"Mark, I… I…" The green-haired creature tried to get the words out but his voice kept messing up again, getting too high in pitch from the nerves.

"I love you."

Anti couldn't finish what he wanted to say, as the raven-haired man pressed his lips against the monster's in a sweet kiss. Anti's eyes went wide and he returned the kiss shortly afterwards, although he felt shocked by the sudden move. They parted after a minute and Mark cupped the green-haired entity's cheeks.

"I know just how anxious you felt about telling me, so I thought I should say it first. That way I'm the embarassing one here."

Anti snickered at the joke and wrapped his arms around Mark's waist, pulling him in for another gentle kiss.

"I love you too, Mark," the monster whispered against the human's lips.

They heard a short and not-so-secret squeal as they shared the intimate moment but neither of them felt like stopping. They'd known the children were spying on their date since the very beginning, and it was adorable.

"So… It's love, isn't it?" Mark asked when they took another break from kissing.

"Hm?" Anti couldn't understand what exactly the other meant.

"The feeling that finally gave you that warmth. It's love."

The creature didn't reply, only continued kissing his beloved man. And Mark kissed him in return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Do we have time for bonus chapter, Em2?_  
> ...  
>  **Yes we dooo!**  
>  The story is over, but the adventures of the family are just starting! Wait patiently, the surprise may come soon :D


	9. A New Family

Over the next days, Mark learnt a lot about Anti. First, and foremost, what exactly the creature was supposed to be. While it was a bit strange to hear that the green-haired entity came from a place humans called Hell, Anti did specify he preferred the name Underground. Of course, he thoroughly explained that it's not actually, well, _underground_ after the kids asked their dad for a shovel because they wanted to visit the place.

"You can't get there just by digging holes," Anti laughed at their silly idea. "It's sort of another dimension. Humans can't travel there by themselves."

"Then take us there!" Sam and Tim would only whine in unison.

"I'd have to check whether I remember how to open a breach in the fabric of reality…" The monster's answer sounded pretty ominous.

Later Mark caught Anti practising some strange hand gestures and kept asking whether it was a good idea. Anti's choice of words concerned the raven-haired man, but the green-haired entity would assure his boyfriend it was nothing dangerous. Plus, he wouldn't actually take the kids there, at least not without his strict supervision.

In the meantime, Anti kept feeding the children various stories about his homeworld. Most of the creatures that supposedly populated that dimension were things Mark had heard of from myths and legends. There were devil-tailed, winged demons; flying dragon-like hunters; bloodthirsty rodents; purple-striped felines with three eyes and ten tails. Sam would listen to the stories with awe, and Tim would try to capture their looks on a piece of paper the best way he could. Their father was just a tiny bit concerned the latest drawings stuck to the fridge had a bit too much red and black on them.

The real problem started when Anti finally succeeded in visiting the Underground. He opened something like a tear floating in the air. It glowed green and red, a strange spiral of colours in the middle. Mark barely stopped Tim from running headfirst into the portal after the entity and scolded both of his children for even thinking about it.

Anti wasn't gone for too long. In fact, he emerged from the breach ten minutes later, holding something in his hands. The raven-haired man gave him a suspicious look, asking what in the world he could've brought back in. The entity grinned.

"Kids, remember how I told you about imps?"

"Those little fluffy demon thingies?" Sam's eyes lit up at that.

"Yes!" Anti giggled as he released a small creature from his hold. It was small like a bat, although it was shaped more like a ball. Its dark orange fur was as soft as a kitten's, and it was covering its big eyes with its dark violet wings.

Both kids half-squealed, half-screamed when they saw that, instantly reaching to grab it. Mark couldn't stop them from mercilessly torturing the obviously scared imp with their petting.

"Is that really okay?" The raven-haired man sighed, watching his children play with the small ball of anxiety.

"Imps are harmless, they never defend themselves. They drink the nectar of deathroots and they don't even have teeth." Anti assured his boyfriend. "I'm not going to bring anything dangerous, I promise."

"I'm holding onto your word, sweetheart." Mark smiled in return.

And so the reverse zoo trip began. Every week the green-haired entity would visit the Underground to catch an unsuspecting resident of the dimension to show it to the children later. Although nothing could beat the initial amazement upon seeing an imp, Sam and Tim were delighted to see all the otherworldly animals and whatnot.

It was when Anti brought the creature that was supposed to look like a cat that he managed to awe them once more. He told them to close their eyes as he pulled a dark velvet feline out of the portal and set it on the floor. The creature's tails stood up attentively, lightly twitching as it looked around the new surroundings.

"It's a Netsuna." the green-haired entity grinned as he told the children to look. Sam's squeak startled the feline, although it didn't manage to run away as Tim already reached for it with grabby hands.

Mark chuckled when Anti joined him on the couch. "They're so adorable, aren't they?"

"Well, it's hard to find something cute in human standards in the Underground, you know?"

"I meant my children." The raven-haired man laughed and lightly shoved his boyfriend.

The cat's tails were still indicating it was nervous, although it soon accepted the petting it was receiving as it sat still, occasionally letting out a high-pitched cry.

"Netsuna use a higher range for expressing happiness, and lower for sadness," Anti explained when

Sam began to look concerned about the sounds. "No need to worry. They hardly ever get angry so you could even pull on its tails and it'd let you."

"But don't actually," Mark cut in when he spotted a mischievous glint in Tim's eyes. He smiled as he saw his son go back to scratching behind the purple creature's ears.

"Yeah, they're cute," Anti said after a moment of silence. "That's why I love bringing them those things. Their smiles make me feel all warm inside."

The raven-haired man kissed his boyfriend's cheek. "I hope it does, too." The other giggled in response and gave him a proper kiss on the lips.

"You always make me the happiest, darling."

* * *

Anti knew he shouldn't step into the territory of the most vicious predators of the Underground. He was testing his luck as he spotted a lone creature. They would always gather in packs, so the green-haired entity was hoping he wouldn't get attacked.

He just wanted to find a small one. He didn't need to bring an adult, that may be risky. With each step, he noticed the resting creature tense up. Its ears were standing, listening for any sounds. Anti prayed it didn't pay attention to him, although he was the only living being in the area.

Anti kept walking forward until the creature got up, a low growl emitting from its throat. Once it bared its fangs, the green-haired entity knew he'd overstepped the line. He turned around the moment the creature moved and opened the portal back home as he started running. Those things were fast as hell and he almost got bitten.

He didn't even look back as he jumped into the breach. Anti landed on the hardwood floor of the living room and let out a heavy breath of relief, feeling the cool air of Mark's house. That didn't last long, however, as he heard a second thud right afterwards.

He hadn't closed the portal.

Anti stared in horror as he saw that the apex predator of Hell, the most feared creature followed him back to the world of humans.

"Anti? Are you back?"

The kids' voices made him stand up as fast as he could, panicking over the situation. The good thing was that the sudden change of environment confused the creature and it couldn't get up just yet, its senses attacked by unfamiliar smells and sounds. The horrifying thing was, however, the fact that the children were coming there, and he'd promised not to let them anywhere near anything dangerous. The creature growled and hissed once it got the hang of standing on the wooden floor and turned around to face Anti.

… Just to be startled by the loudest, most high-pitched scream it had most likely ever heard. Sam was standing in the doorway with the widest grin her face count contain.

"What is that?!" She didn't even wait for the answer, running towards the creature. "It looks like a dog!"

Tim followed his sister and Anti couldn't even protest before the kids started touching the creature. It got only more confused and let out a whine, feeling two sets of hands on its short gray fur.

"It's…" The green-haired entity ran a hand through his hair, racking his brain on how to solve the problem at hand. "It's a hellhound."

* * *

Mark tended to ignore various screams and squeals while he was working. Not all of his children's loud noises required his attention. He would usually intervene only when one of them would cry or scream words like "stupid" or "idiot". Worst case scenarios were the sounds of something crashing against the floor.

So the happy screams didn't particularly bother the raven-haired man; he was too busy typing some data into the spreadsheets he'd earlier received. His eyes were slowly getting tired from staring at the screen for hours - even his glasses couldn't save him from the radiation. Mark was so focused even a strange sound of paws and clicking of claws on the floor didn't get his attention.

But a sudden loud thud on the door did.

"Kids?" The raven-haired man turned his head away from the screen. That sounded like someone running into the door but no pained cries followed. "What are you doing?"

When he received no verbal response, he'd left his chair. That was too suspicious to ignore. Once he opened the door, something ran into the room, pushing him out of the way and dashed straight for his desk to hide under it.

"Doggy, where did you go?" Sam appeared in the room right after that strange blur of gray barged in. The girl wore a joyful smile.

"' _Doggy_ '?" Mark frowned and looked at the thing hiding under his desk. He gasped in horror as he took in the creature's appearance.

It was as huge as a human, maybe even bigger. While it looked similar to a dog in its physique, its paws had almost bearlike claws and its loud snout hid rows of sharp teeth inside, some of them sticking out. It didn't have a tail and its body looked actually thin, reminding Mark of a Great Dane. Even its ears were pointy, although the Borzoi-like muzzle clearly showed it belonged to no actual dog breed.

While it wasn't moving, just laying there curled up and panting heavily, the raven-haired man knew it couldn't be trusted. Every single thing about that beast screamed of danger.

"Anti brought a hellhound!" Tim's comment made Mark snap out of his thoughts.

"Kids, no." The raven-haired man stopped his children from approaching the creature. "Don't touch it."

"But it likes petting! It just got scared when Tim shouted into its ear!" Sam complained, pointing at her brother with her free arm. She tugged on the other one, trying to release it from her dad's hold.

Soon enough the guilty party showed up. Anti fidgeted once Mark's glare caught his eyes.

"What in the world is that thing?" The raven-haired man tried to keep his voice calm, though he could feel anger bubbling up.

"It's a hellhound. I… I know I shouldn't have--"

"Kids, get out. I need to talk to Anti." Mark's serious face showed there was no room for arguing. Sam and Tim left the room with disappointed expressions, though their father didn't really care, slamming the door shut behind them.

"I'm sorry, it was an accident!" The green-haired entity put his hands up in a defensive gesture.

"An _accident_?! You tell me right now, how that thing got into my house!"

"I didn't close the breach in time, it jumped in right behind me," Anti knew he wasn't getting out of this one.

"I asked you for one thing, Anti. One!" Mark was pacing around, having a hard time controlling the volume of his voice. "You let the kids near that thing when I asked you not to!"

"That's why I'm so sorry, Mark!" Anti, on the other hand, could barely stop his voice from breaking. "I'll take it back, I swear…"

"You do it this instant!" The raven-haired man gestured to his desk, where the hound was still hiding.

The green-haired entity nodded and walked towards the creature but the second he stepped closer than 2 meters, the hound bared its teeth and let out a warning hiss. Anti gulped and extended his arm, hoping that thing didn't actually want to attack. But it opened its mouth and its growls became louder.

"I… I can't, it just…"

"What?" Mark didn't sound any more pleasant than the hound. "What do you mean, you _can't_?!"

"It doesn't like me!" Anti had to jump back when the creature snapped at him.

The raven-haired man groaned and approached the desk himself. "Then I guess I have to do it myself!" He pointed at the door, glaring at the hound. When it didn't budge, he tried to do it again more aggressively. It was still not working.

"Mark…" The green-haired entity spoke quietly. "They have no eyes. It can't see you."

Mark had no idea how he'd missed that fact but when he was looking at the hound now, he noticed the lack of any sort of eyes on its head.

"Oh great," he grumbled.

"They're very intelligent, though. And they have a perfect hearing..."

"No one cares about your stupid hell trivia," Mark cut him off, not noticing Anti wince. "Get out of here, you dumb mutt!" He stomped loudly.

That seemed to finally get the creature's attention as it got up and trotted out of the room, its ears pressed close to the sides of its head.

"S-see? It listene-"

"You too! Out of my office!" The raven-haired man grabbed his chair that was kicked to the side and pulled it back to the desk in one motion. "I've got work to do. And if the kids touch even a hair on that thing, you'll be sleeping on the couch tonight."

* * *

"Kids, please, leave it alone…" Anti didn't know how to handle the situation he'd found himself in. Sam and Tim were rubbing the hound's belly with wide smiles, they were enjoying it a lot.

"But, Anti, look! It's happy!" The girl said and pressed her face into the creature's fur, wrapping her arms around its huge frame.

The green-haired entity sighed deeply. The hound was either playing dead or it had given up and accepted its fate. Occasionally it would let out a whine whenever one of the kids showered it with too much affection.

"It's smiling!" Tim was standing right next to the creature's muzzle, pulling on the corners of its mouth. It didn't bother with defending its dignity, holding its mouth open even when the boy wanted to inspect its fangs.

Anti scratched his head. It was almost unbelievable to see something so dangerous let children have their way with it. Hellhounds were famous for having no mercy, for hunting anything and anyone down. So the only explanation for what was currently going on was that the hound didn't feel endangered at all. Though it was still hard for Anti to imagine that the creature would enjoy petting.

He approached the children, hoping that he would be able to take advantage of the hellhound's relaxed state. The green-haired entity seemed to be out of luck that day, however.

The creature turned its snout his way, smelling the air. Once it caught his scent, it rolled back on its feet and another growl warned Anti not to approach the hound.

Anti felt defeated by fate. He could only watch as Tim tried climbing the hound's back and Sam kept nuzzling into its fur. The creature laid back down to let the children continue whatever they wanted to do.

"Kids, please. Your dad won't be happy if he finds out you're playing with it."

"But it's so nice!" The children whined, and the hellhound joined them as Sam tickled its neck.

Anti couldn't do anything. As long as Sam and Tim were near that thing, he could neither drag them away from it nor send the creature back to the Underground.

So, of course, it was only a matter of time before Mark left his office and saw the kids sitting right next to the huge hound, watching cartoons. Anti was sitting on the couch, head in his hands.

"Sam, Tim," the raven-haired man called his children without sparing the other entity a glance. "Go wash your hands. Dinner time."

The kids got up, complaining about their dad interrupting the show. When the girl lightly kissed the hellhound, Mark repeated her name in a harsh voice.

The hound approached the parent once the children were gone but the raven-haired man pushed it away with his foot. "No, you stay _here._ And if I see you near my children again I'll kick you out myself, seeing that others aren't capable of doing it."

Anti only curled up on the couch tighter, feeling another shiver coming. Mark's indifferent treatment was causing him to be cold. The raven-haired man didn't want to talk to him and that was official.

The hound sat down in a respectable distance from the green-haired entity, loudly panting again. Anti guessed it had problems with breathing in a different environment but then again hellhounds were known for being able to adapt in even the worst of scenarios. Its ears were standing up, listening to the sounds coming from the kitchen.

Both Anti and the creature could only listen to the humans carry on with their lives. After the dinner Mark made the kids go take a bath and brush their teeth. It was about eight P.M. so the raven-haired man didn't care for their complaints, hurrying them to their room.

Before Mark turned the lights off, he only muttered a quiet "Good night." As Anti turned around to look at him, the raven-haired man was already gone from the sight, a sound of the door closing telling the green-haired entity that he was in the bedroom already.

Just when Anti thought he was finally happy, he was crushed by his biggest enemy once again - the silence in the house. He wrapped a blanket around himself and laid down on the sofa, a few tears running down his face.

* * *

Something caught Anti's attention at night. He was hidden under the blanket, trying to stop the shivers as he heard the floorboards creak. His mind was elsewhere, so he couldn't focus well enough to figure out what the source of the noise was.

His thoughts had been revolving around his failure for hours now. He was terrified of potentially ruining his entire relationship with Mark and the man wasn't even aware of how dangerous hellhounds truly were. That was the only reason Anti could still stay in the house.

Tears had been leaking out of his eyes constantly and his skin turned ashen, the colour fading into shadows. His fear made him lose his integrity and there was no stopping it. Through the glazed eyes, he didn't notice a figure standing over him in the dark.

"… Anti?" The voice the green-haired entity heard was scarcely above a whisper. "Are you…"

The man did not finish his question, only lifted the blanket. It revealed a half-transparent body that lacked defined features a living being should have.

"Oh god…" The raven-haired man gasped as he let go of the blanket, letting it fall back to its place.

"Mark?" Anti's voice was feeble and barely audible. "I'm so sorry…"

The other didn't say anything as he immediately kneeled next to the couch and embraced the green-haired entity. "No, don't apologise. I should be the one doing it right now."

"But I-" Anti felt so confused, he'd thought Mark would despise him.

"Shh, I'm terribly sorry for lashing out at you…" The raven-haired man tightened his hug, pulling the other close to his chest. "I get so overprotective over the children that I forget there are other important things for me…"

"Aren't you mad at me?"

"How could I be?" Mark looked Anti in the eyes. It could've been a problem if the entity was human, but his shining irises were easy to spot in the dark. "I love you and I'm not angry over what you've done. I understand it was a mistake…"

The green-haired entity finally returned the embrace and they stayed like that for a while, holding each other dearly.

"I can't get rid of it…" Anti whispered back after a moment of silence.

A low bark interrupted them and Mark yelped a bit, clutching his lover's arms in surprise.

At the slightest mention of itself, the hellhound reminded them of its existence.

"How long has it been here?" The raven-haired man turned around, trying to make out the creature's shape in the darkness.

"I think it sat up when you came in…"

Mark held Anti's hand as he rose to his feet, and the green-haired entity got up with him.

"Come on, let's… Let's get you back to bed. You're freezing…"

They heard a couple of heavy steps behind them when they headed towards the bedroom. Mark had to stop and turned around again.

"No." He pointed in the direction of the hound. "You stay here. And don't you dare go to any other room."

The creature whined, but they didn't hear it move anymore afterwards.

"I told you it's listening." Anti murmured when they were in the bedroom.

"Doesn't seem to be listening to you."

"Maybe it's because I'm not the alpha male here," the green-haired entity giggled. Mark returned the smile and soon fell asleep, holding his boyfriend in his arms.

* * *

"Can we keep it?

"Daddy, please!"

"Pretty pretty please!"

"We'll take care of it!"

Mark would not hear the end of it the next day. Sam and Tim were ready to tie themselves to their father's legs if it meant they'd get their point across. And the point had been taken a long time ago, even before the breakfast.

So when it became the afternoon, and the raven-haired man was sitting on the couch trying to enjoy some TV, the sheer sight of his children in the corner of his eye made his fingers twitch.

It was true that they'd wanted a pet for a long time. And it didn't help that Mark had always wanted to have a dog since his mother was a canine lover.

"Do you really have the choice here?" Anti said as he appeared behind the couch. "Surely you can't resist that pretty begging for long?"

"I can't just give in, Anti," Mark dragged a hand over his face when the hellhound walked into the living room and decided to stand in front of the TV. "I can't even be sure it won't harm the kids."

The green-haired entity sighed. "You are right, but it hasn't misbehaved in any way yet."

"' _Yet'_ being the key word here." The raven-haired man groaned. "Get out of the way!" He motioned at the hellhound.

The creature's ears twitched and it obediently left his line of sight. Anti smirked at that.

"It's seriously listening to you. Think about it."

"I just have a hard time believing that a dog from Hell would perfectly understand English."

"It's not about the language, darling." The green-haired entity finally sat down to look Mark properly in the eyes. "Do you think I had to learn the human language? That would be tedious and pointless. We, the creatures of the Underground, possess the ability to understand the _intention_ of a sentence."

"Then how come you can speak it?" The raven-haired man tilted his head, taking his eyes off the screen.

"Because I am a creature of many talents. Please do keep in mind that I used to be worshipped as a god by humans." Anti winked. "My kind is one of very few that can actually communicate. Most of the creatures don't need speaking, their sounds are enough to talk with one another."

"Okay, fine. Let's say I believe it can understand me, but why the hell would listen to me?"

"This is the part I'm having more troubles with getting, I'll admit." Anti scratched his head. One of his mouths was open in confusion, the other was still smiling. "The only thing I can think of is you establishing your dominance the second it met you. Everyone in the house obeyed you, so it figured it had no choice."

"I hope you're right…" Mark sighed. "I don't want anything bad to happen…"

"So…?" Anti's sly smirk almost made the raven-haired man smile as well. "Are we keeping it?"

"I can't believe _you_ are convincing me, this thing doesn't even like you!"

"I'm sure it'll work out." The green-haired entity waved his hand.

Mark shook his head and got up from the couch. The hellhound was sitting by the dining table, sniffing the floor. Sam had spilt her drink there earlier and it was probably picking up the scent of the juice. It straightened its back when it sensed someone approaching it. The raven-haired crouched to get on the eye-level with it. Or would-be-eye-level if it had eyes.

"Now listen here, you weird dog," Mark started and heard a faint snort from behind. So Anti was going to enjoy this, it seemed. "I'm going to let you stay since my kids like you. I won't lie, I wouldn't mind having a pet either, but I don't fully trust you yet."

The hound opened its mouth and something like a bark emitted from its throat. It was much lower and quieter than a normal dog's, though.

"I have no idea if you're agreeing with me there or if that was supposed to be some sort of a protest…" The corners of Mark's mouth lifted for a second, although he tried to maintain a serious face. "So just know this: if you ever dare to hurt my children in any way, I won't forgive you. If I see even a small scratch on either Sam or Tim, nothing will save you."

The hellhound licked its nose and lowered its head. At first the raven-haired thought it was showing submission, but then he realised it was simply laying down.

"Is that thing even listening to me right now?" Mark scoffed, though he scratched behind its ears to pet it a bit.

"It feels safe around you." Anti shrugged. "But I'm pretty sure it got your message."

"I hope so."

"Can I tell the kids now?" The green-haired entity grinned with both of his mouths.

"No, they're doing homework now. They'll find out later."

"I'm sure they'll be excited," Anti giggled.

Mark smiled in return, coming back to his boyfriend to wrap his arms around his shoulder and give him a kiss on the cheek. "I think I'll be a bit excited too."

* * *

Mark was in the middle of chopping vegetables when he heard the now so familiar clicking of the claws against the floor. He didn't have to shift his gaze to know that the hellhound was now in the kitchen. Its arrival was announced by its loud breathing anyway.

"Maggie, come back!" Sam shouted from the living room.

The raven-haired man raised an eyebrow. "Maggie?"

"No, I told you, it's Lucy!" Tim cut in, walking barefoot towards the hound. Mark glared at him and the boy turned around to fetch his slippers. His father didn't like his kids getting their feet dirty.

"And I told you to leave my mom's dogs alone," the raven-haired man murmured. "Lucy, Maggie, Bell and Bubble are out of question. It doesn't look interested in those names anyway..."

The hellhound was facing the stove and if it had eyes, it'd probably have been staring intently at the contents of the pan. The smell of fried chicken and spices was filling the air and the creature was taking it in with each breath.

Mark finished cutting the vegetables and walked to the stove to throw them into the pan soon. The hound sensed his presence and stood on back legs, so it could stick its snout into the pan. The raven-haired man made an annoyed sound and pushed it off.

"This isn't for you."

The creature whined as it fell back on all fours, lightly bumping Mark's leg with its nose.

"Begging won't help here," Mark smirked. He flipped the pieces of chicken over so they wouldn't get burnt and opened a drawer to put some of the spices away.

As soon as he left the pan out of his sight, the hellhound hopped back up, setting its front paws on the counter. It eagerly sniffed the fried meat and the raven-haired man swatted at it once more.

"No, I told you! Stay down!"

Another low whine was the only response. The raven-haired man wondered just why the hound seemed to be so interested in the dinner. It didn't eat the food this world had to offer, anyway. Anti claimed he'd have to take it back to the Underground from time to time so it could hunt there.

Mark figured he had to keep an eye on the chicken, so he added the vegetables soon, occasionally glancing down at the hellhound. It was sitting down, its ears standing up.

It wasn't too patient, it seemed. Mark didn't even have to turn around because once the water from the vegetables started evaporating with a loud sizzle, the creature jumped up and stuck its muzzle into the pan, just to throw it onto the ground. The contents spilt out and the hound swallowed them one by one.

The raven-haired man shouted it was all so sudden he took a step back. Although once he saw the hellhound eating the food, he yelled in frustration.

"No, no, no! Stupid dog, leave it alone!"

The kids were drawn in by the noise and so they appeared in the entrance soon enough.

"What's going on Daddy?" Sam asked.

"It's eating our dinner, that's what!" Mark grumbled, gesturing at the hound.

The children looked at each other and smiled. Their parent felt uneasy, knowing they were up to something. And sure enough, the shouted in unison.

"Chica!"

Within the next second the hellhound was assaulted by two pairs of tiny hands and it started barking and flailing around playfully, some pieces that were stuck to its mouth now flying left and right.

"Both of you, stop right now!" Mark still felt annoyed by the fact that their meal was ruined and the kids were happy about it.

"Daddy, but look! It likes it! Chica!" Tim laughed as the hound responded with a bark.

"Chica! Chica! Chica!" Sam joined and for every repeat of the name, the creature would respond the best way it could.

Not a minute later Anti peeked into the kitchen, both of his mouths curled up in amusement, although the one on the neck was breaking into a grin.

"What are you all up to?"

"The doggy's got a new name!" Sam announced, wrapping her arms around the hellhound's neck.

"It's Chica now!" Tim giggled.

The green-haired entity nodded and snorted when he noticed Mark's unamused face.

"I assume the chicken had something to do with that?"

"Bring me my phone, Anti," the raven-haired man sighed. "Let's order pizza for dinner."

Anti laughed and went to Mark's office, leaving him exasperated in the kitchen. The children were louder now, squealing about pizza and 'Chica' was running in circles with joy.

The raven-haired man couldn't stay angry forever, though. He crouched to pick the pan up and as he got on the hellhound's level, he smiled lightly.

"So… Chica, huh?"

The hound barked and licked his hand. Mark chuckled and pet its head.

"It fits you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is officially the end of this fanfiction! It was so much fun to write and I am so glad I managed to create a decent story out of it.
> 
> Chica's design was heavily inspired by SCP-939 :D The other creatures were totally made up by me, don't try looking up a Netsuna. Sadly, ten-tailed kitties do not exist :C
> 
> I don't know if I'll ever revisit the AU, since the story is over. But if you have any ideas, questions, headcanons, drop them in the comments, please! I'd love to hear what's on your mind guys!

**Author's Note:**

> Come over and say hi on my blog, [**mantianti** on Tumblr!](http://mantianti.tumblr.com/)


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